A New Mission
by minniemouselover
Summary: Forbidden love comes at unexpected times. Yet this flurry of feelings rise in a time shrouded with mysteries, when a powerful hybrid mew rises, as an imposer stands amongst them & they discover records of the Mews' existence.. written centuries ago...
1. NANI?

"**STRAWBERRY BELL**!"

Mew Ichigo summoned her weapon, grasping it tightly in her hand. She turned around and smiled at the Chimera monster, fluttering her pink gloved fingers, biding a short farewell before completing her attack on the tired monster.

"_**Reborn Strawberry check**_**!**"

The Chimera emitted a last howl, a long ear-piercing howl that shook their surroundings, as it disappeared into shards of light.

Mission accomplished, Mew Ichigo dropped to the ground from her intense attack, panting slightly from the exercise. She turned around clothes fluttering, to scan her surrounding, and noticed Ryou standing by. She nodded in recognition.

Ryou gave her a thumbs-up, smiling.

"Thanks." She replied, short but sincere. She made one more scan of her surroundings, ran back to where she had dropped her stuff.

Mew Ichigo de-transformed and picked up her bag.

"Sorry, but I've got to go now... I'm going to be _late._ See you later..!! I'll catch you later at work." Ichigo started running toward the direction of her school, late as usual.

Ryou waved her off.

One she'd left, Ryou frowned, thinking.

Perhaps he had just been seeing things, but there seemed to be something wrong... no, different, with her battle moves just now... _That was... weird._ He turned back, walking back to the café, pondering.

Unnoticed by the pair, a hooded figure narrowed her eyes in the shadow of her hiding place, processing what she had just witness.

_Interesting...

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_

"See you tomorrow~!" She waved to her friends, starting off in the direction of the Mew Mew café. _Oh dear. I think I'm going to be late._ She thought as she sped up.

Ichigo managed to arrive late as usual, to the café. Sneaking in through the back, she went to the changing room and swiftly donned her cute red waitress clothes, still fixing her hair when she walked out to the corridor, innocently.

"You're late." Ryou was leaning against the wall, staring out at the customers. He did not give any other acknowledgement of her presence.

"I..." unable to make up an excuse, Ichigo strode out to the main hall, and started taking orders from customers, putting her friendly smile and efficiency to work.

* * *

After the last of their customers finished their food and was ushered out of the café, they hung up the 'Closed' sign. They gathered at the secret basement room.

Ryou spoke first, hesitantly. "There is something that you need to know. We haven't deliberately held this from you, but we think that it's time you knew."

"This world, the world you know, Earth, the Universe... there is more beyond it. There is more to the world than you know." Keiichiro continued for him. "There is more than one universe in the world. There are 3, including ours."

The Tokyo mew mew stared at the two men disbelievingly.

"Is this some sort of prank? A joke?" Ichigo asked first. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No. We need not lie to you. You need to know this, and we are telling you now." Ryou answered, his eyes serious.

Ichigo read the truth from his eyes. "No... way..." She shook her head.

Keiichiro smiled. "When have we lied to you? Just as we told you there were aliens, we are telling you now about the two other universes."

The five girls were silent as they realized this was true. But it was too much to absorb in one moment.

Zakuro regained her calm first. "And what do you mean by another universe?" The other mews nodded. It was the right question to ask, amongst the many questions that had appeared when this idea had been introduced.

"There are 3 universes in total, and they are what we call parallel universes. They run along a parallel line. These universes are very much similar to each other. The people too. For every single person that is born, their counterparts would be born in the other universes at the same time."

Keiichiro paused, searching for an easy explanation.

"For example, there are 3 'Ichigos' in this world, one in each universe. Those two other 'Ichigos' may not bear the same name, but they would look similar, as if they were the same person. They are what we would call _counterparts_."

"And why are you telling us this, right here, right now?" Minto asked.

"We have detected someone from another universe. Something tells us that they will be interfering with your lives. They—"

"Ichigo." Ryou interrupted Keiichiro with a troubled look in his blue eyes. "Did you sense that anything was... different, in any way, when you were fighting the Chimera this morning?"

Ichigo tilted her head and thought. _Yes, something was different, but... she just couldn't quite place it..._  
"Um, I don't know how to say it... Yes, there was something _different_, like, a different _feel_. It was so minor that I might not have noticed... how do I say this..." She fumbled for words, not knowing how to describe it.

Ryou looked thoughtful.

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Ahh! I don't know if anyone will review this story~~~ I just wrote it for fun. Maybe the whole thing _is _a bit sincere, but that was just the beginning. I hope to add some 'fluffy' stuff to it. Please R&R.

**PS: I've been going over my stories, and realized how bad they were in the beginning... I've edited and re-written some of the parts. These changes won't interfere with the main storyline. Have no worries about that, people!! I'm doing a big reposting of the story, so sorry if i'm spamming your inbox!**


	2. The green light!

_First off; thank you to dbzgtfan2004 and Old-Fashioned Girl22, who reviewed. I was really surprised when I found out. After all, this is my first story!_

_On with the story!!

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**Last Chapter:**

"..." Ichigo fumbled for words, not knowing how to describe it.

Ryou looked thoughtful.

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**Chapter 2**

At that moment, a rumbling sound filled the room, making everyone jump in surprise.

Ichigo clutched her stomach in embarrassment, turning a sweet strawberry red.

"Heh..." She sounded embarrassed.

"Hungry,Ichigo?" Keiirchiro asked, smiling slightly.

Ichigo nodded. Her cheeks were getting redder by the moment.

Keiichiro beckoned to the hungry girl and she followed him out to the corridor and into the kitchen where she 'helped try out the food'.

A sound of purring soon followed.

Ichigo was waggling her tail and twitching her cat ears, which had come out at the sight of the beautifully laid cakes. _(Mmm...)_

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**xxxxxxxxxxxxx Back at the Basement xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"What's the matter, Shirogane?" Zakuro asked.

Ryou appeared to be still deep in thoughts.

"_Ryou Shirogane_!" Zakuro persisted.

Ryou looked up. "What? What were you— never mind. I am going to run a video of Ichigo's fight this morning. See if any of you can tell what's wrong, anything that's... different."

The Mews nodded--Except for Pudding, who was nowhere to be seen.

Ryou opened his laptop and tapped some buttons absently. A picture of Ichigo in her waiter's costume appeared, smiling and holding a V (victory) hand sign at the camera.

"Shirogane?" Lettuce inquired.

Ryou looked at her. "What?"

"Erm... the screen... is that what you were trying to show?"

"Huh?" Ryou looked at the screen. "What are you talking a— oh. Oops..." He realized his mistake.

He turned to the computer, rearranging some things, trying to hide a faint blush that was creeping into his face.

Another image of Ichigo appeared on the screen on the wall, but this time a video of her in her transformed outfit, preparing for battle:

* * *

_"Mew Mew Ichigo Metamorphosis!_

_For the future of the earth, I will be of service... Nya!"_

Everyone watched as she dodged the Chimera Anima's attacks, spinning through the air like she was doing gymnastics, leaping from all directions, baiting the Chimera monster. She looked like she was having fun. Ryou watched with a small smile on his face.

"_STRAWBERRY BELL__**!**__"_

_Mew Ichigo summoned her weapon, grasping it tightly in her hand. She turned around and smiled at the Chimera monster, fluttering her pink gloved fingers, biding a short farewell before completing her attack on the tired monster._

"_Reborn Strawberry check__**!**__"_

_The Chimera emitted a last howl, a long ear-piercing howl that shook their surroundings, as it disappeared into shards of light._

_

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_

"Who's that over there?" a voice crept up from behind them.

Everyone looked around, to see Pudding standing in the doorway, with her "Sherlock Holmes detective suit" on, pointing a magnifying glass at a corner of the screen.

"Pudding, I don' think that has got anything to do with what we're trying to find..." Minto said wearily.

Pudding and Minto broke into an argument, quarreling over the significance of the figure at the corner of the screen.

"Wait a moment..." Ryou said, his eyes fixed on the screen. He replayed part of the video.

"Did you see that? There!" He pointed to the screen, pausing.

Hanging above Ichigo and the monster was a pale green glimmer in the air. It lasted only for a moment, barely noticeable. Ryou replayed that but again, then paused it, standing back to see the big screen.

The green glimmer was now visible, suspended in the air. But—

"Look over there." Ryou pointed again at the screen. _What is this? I thought we checked our surroundings... Hey what's_—

"The light..." murmured the eldest of the mews.

"The strange light that's glimmering, it surrounds that mysterious figure... and over there..." Minto trailed off, unable to continue.

"The air, the mysterious stranger, they have the same glow as that spark of light on her pendant..." Lettuce whispered.

_There, unmistakably clear on the screen, was Ichigo's mew mew pendant hanging from her neck, and on it, was that mysterious glow of light, the same glow that was surrounding the hooded-figure and the light that was shimmering in the air, around her and the chimera..._

_

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There! Another chapter over. I'm sorry if my chapters are short. They'll get longer.

What was the green light? Why was it on Ichigo's pendant? Who was the Mysterious figure? Why would the green light be on the cloaked person as well?

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review!** They really help! **Even if you didn't like the story, just tell me what you didn't like about it**, **ok? **_**PLEASE!**_

[I've gone back and edited. It's still kinda bad though. There isn't much to write about. It gets better later on. .]


	3. Embarrassing Situation

**Chapter 3**

Last Chapter

_There, unmistakably clear on the screen, was Ichigo's mew mew pendant hanging from her neck, and on it, was that mysterious glow of light, the same glow that was surrounding the hooded-figure and the light that was shimmering I the air..._

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Chapter 3:

The mew mews couldn't believe their eyes. How would Ichigo's pendant have anything to do with that evil-looking glimmer in the air, and that mysterious hooded person?? And Who was that hooded person? Or maybe, _What_ was that figure?

Zakuro took command of the situation and said. "Let's just go ask Ichigo if there's anything wrong with her pendant. Ask her some questions to make sure she's still Ichigo first. We don't know what that green light does."

Everyone nodded. They walked out of the basement and into the kitchen, where Ichigo was still eating the food and wagging her cute cat tail.

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_Purrrrr… _"Mmm… yummy… oh this is so gooood~~" _Munch munch. Purrrrr…_

Minto whispered "Seems like the same old Ichigo to me."

No one replied.

Pudding was the first to speak to Ichigo.

"Ichigo… what do you think you deserve from this café? From Shirogane?"

Everyone froze as they realized what Pudding had done. If Ichigo really answered correctly… Not good for Ryou…

Interrupted from her eating, Ichigo looked up and said, "Miaow?" She wiped her mouth. "What did you say??"

Pudding repeated the question.

The Mews were now looking rather suspiciously at Ichigo, when—

Ichigo narrowed her eyes at Ryou, who had been trying to slip away the moment he realised what the answer might be.

"Shirogane… from all the hard work that I've done at this café, all the efficiency and time I've put into this..!! I've worked so much harder than everyone else, and I actually _work_… There's been one thing that you seem to have forgotten…" Ichigo licked her lips.

"I… demand… my… _PAY-RISE_. _**Now!!!**_"

The mews were both scared and relieved.

Scared, of what was going to happen next; relieved, because they knew this was really Ichigo.

"**RYOU SHIROGANE!!!!!**" fumed Ichigo.

The Mews and Keiichiro dived for cover, leaving poor Ryou in front of the really, really, worked up Ichigo.

Lettuce whispered to Pudding from under the table. "That wasn't the best question to ask, you know."

Pudding gulped and nodded. "Oops."

Everyone watched as Ichigo chased Ryou around the room, both running like mad.

"GIVE ME MY PAY-RISE!!!!!" Ichigo screamed as she chased Ryou like a lunatic.

It was then when Ryou tripped over an empty box, somehow soaring through the air and landing smack on his backside.

Ichigo grinned, knowing that her prey was trapped. "Rrrrr-Miaow…." She got ready to pounce, her cat instincts taking over.

_SLAM._

She too had tripped on another empty carton, soaring through the air… and landing ungracefully on Ryou. Literally.

They were in such an awkward position, that if it weren't for the current situation, everyone would have found it really funny.

Ichigo was lying face-first on the ground, her face right next to his, and the rest of her body draped of his poor stomach. Their bodies formed a shape that looked like an X from a bird's eye view. Ichigo had slammed into Ryou with such force that they might have just created a Ryou + Ichigo shape on the ground.

Well, they were both rather embarrassed at the situation. But Ichigo was angry, and she wouldn't give up easily. She really wanted that pay-rise.

"I'm not gelling up until you give me a pay-rise." Ichigo stated in a flat tone, leaving no room for argument. Her tail popped out, ruining the moment.

Ryou had to refuse. He didn't want to give her the pay-rise… and besides, underneath his embarrassment, he felt a sense of… _amusement_, and just a tinge of enjoyment. He didn't know why. Maybe it wasn't everyday that he got Ichigo to pin him down like this.

"Get off me."

"Not until you give me a pay rise."

Ryou sighed, knowing that he has to resort to his threats. "Ichigo… if you don't get off, you're gonna witness an embarrassing scene."

"Oh yeah?"

"I am going to take- off- my shirt." Ryou smirked. He knew what Ichigo feared.

"Oh- no you aren't, pervert. How are you going to take off your shirt when I'm on top of you?" Ichigo grinned. There was no letting Ryou go this time.

"Oh-yeah?" Ryou squirmed under Ichigo. The hem of his black shirt started lifting up. _Don't make me do this, Ichigo…_ he thought.

"Pervert, pervert, pervert, pervert, pervert…" She wasn't going to care this time… she was going to stick to her point. Yet somewhere within her, a strange feeling rose. _This is fun… I kinda… __like__ this…_ the thought was brushed away immediately. _I love Masaya, and—_

Suddenly, Ichigo's eyes flashed white. No one noticed except for Ryou who was at that moment glaring into her cute face. Her eyes were blank for a moment, and she fainted. A soft green glimmer glowed, and faded from her pendant, which was on her breast pocket. Ryou noticed that too.

This was getting even more awkward. Slowly Ryou hoisted himself up, lifting Ichigo with him. He cradled her into his arms, looking concerned. "Ichigo??"

Not understanding what just happened, the mews and Keiichiro slowly crawled out of their hiding places.

"What happened?" Pudding spoke the question that was burning in the air.

"I don't know…" Ryou said. "Her eyes just flashed white all of a sudden, then she just… fainted. There was that green glimmer on her pendant…"

Everyone was puzzled.

"I'll bring her up to let her lie down on my bed." Ryou turned around and started going upstairs, Ichigo still in his arms.

Ichigo's eyes popped open just as Ryou entered his room. The first thing she saw was 2 crystal blue orbs staring down at her with concern. Only that she didn't notice the concern.

"Ahh!" she screamed, and almost fell out of Ryou's arms. "Why are you holding me? Pervert! Let go!"

Ryou suddenly realised what she was thinking, but didn't let go. "You fainted."

"Well, I'm alive and kicking now, aren't I? Let me go!!" Ichigo protested. Yet that strange part of her said, _lean on his hold just for a moment more…_ No! Ichigo shook her head, trying to banish the thought. When that didn't work, she reasoned with herself_, _thinking_, I'm just tired…I should get more sleep…_

An electronic but strangely cute voice filled the air. "Alien, Alien…" Masha interrupted them.

Ryou could do nothing but let Ichigo out of his hold, wondering why Masha couldn't sound just a moment later. _What am I thinking? I was just holding her because she's still weak… _he reasoned with himself.

"**Mew Mew Strawberry, Metamorphosis****!"**

"**Mew Mew Mint, Metamorphosis!"**

"**Mew Mew Lettuce, Metamorphosis!"**

"**Mew Mew Pudding****, Metamorphosis!"**

"**Mew Mew Zakuro****, Metamorphosis!"**

The mews transformed almost simultaneously.

Ichigo ran, no, leaped down the stairs, with Ryou following. Keiichiro emerged from the basement.

"That way…!!" He ran outside with everybody following.

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They stopped when they saw the monster. Keiichiro noticed a hooded stranger standing nearby…

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HOHO! Another chapter posted…. I was originally going to write more in this chapter but then I realised that it was getting kinda long… for my standards anyways.

Halloa~~ why did Ichigo faint? What was that flash of white about? What's wrong with Ichigo?The mysterious stranger again? That flash of green! Who put it there? It got in the way of everything! Wait a moment… I'm the authoress. I put it there… oops sorry. But I assure you it is a big part of the story.

SO! **Please review! Even if it isn't very good!!** I'm not continuing till I have 10!! (hmpft. I have to continue on my other story anyways…) PLEASE SUPPORT!!!


	4. The fight: Painful loss of one member

*faint gasping and coughing sound…*

_SLAM_. A hand appeared on the table top, trying to grasp something to steady… _it?_

"Pueah- cough cough…I'm back…"

A head appeared, coughing and choking from the dust all around it…

Hey people…. I'm back!!! And alive!!! I'm SO SORRY I couldn't update any sooner!!!!!! You see, my house was under renovation and everything, yes EVERYTHING was wrapped up and under layers of debris… even my computer... I didn't realize until I got back from my holiday… I went home and BLAM everything was dusty and it seemed that all I owned were my clothes and stuff I brought for my holiday… so LEARN TO TREASURE WHAT YOU HAVE!!!!!!!! You have no idea what it felt to be separated from all your belongings for like, 10 DAYS!!!! 10 days of boredom to DEATH!!!!! As you probably guessed that was me just now, finally in reach of my computer… hehe… very lame I know… I think I blabbed enough of my sorrows… ON WITH THE STORY!!!!!

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**Last Chapter:**  
They stopped when they saw the monster. Keiichiro noticed a hooded stranger standing nearby…

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**Chapter… 4!!!! :**

"Reborn Lettuce _Rush_!"

_**BANG.**_

_**THUD.**_

"Owww!"

"Pudding Ring _Inferno_!"

_Ouch._

"I don't like you, na no da!"

"Stop talking to the monster, Pudding!"

The mews were weakening, bit by bit. The monster… it was winning…

"What type of Chimera monster is this anyways?!?!?!? Is it even a Chimera?!?!?" shrieked Ichigo as she fired yet another strawberry check.

No one knew the answer, but this Chimera did seem… unusual.

Keiichiro had been looking at the hooded stranger all the time, out of the corner of his eyes. He was quite sure that this was the hooded person from last time. But the question was—

"Where the hell are the _ALIENS_?????" Ichigo continued rambling. "Shouldn't they be here to be, _gloating_ at us or someth—"

Suddenly, a flash of green light almost blinded everyone. Ichigo's pendant was glowing again. Ichigo's eyes shimmered white, blank and empty, before she collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

"Ichigo!" several voices cried at once. Lettuce immediately ran and picked up her unconscious companion and brought her to a safer place, passing her to Ryou.

She had saved Ichigo just in the nick of time. The monster struck the ground where, just a moment ago, Ichigo lay.

Just then, Zakuro got slashed in the belly.

Injured, she was unable to move quickly enough to dodge a blast from the monster. It quickly spread all over her body. She was warped in… something. It seemed like a cross of jelly-like substance and an aura of light. It wasn't beautiful or anything. It stuck fast to Zakuro menacingly, while she struggled to get free.

"Reborn ZaCross _Pure_!"  
It was no use. She was unable to destroy the substance, especially when _she_ was right in the centre of it.

"Zakuro-san! Your hands! They are disappearing, na no da!" Pudding pointed.  
She was right. The tips of Zakuro's fingers were fading slowly, little by little.

"Reborn Lettuce… _Rush_!"

"Reborn Pudding Ring… _Inferno_!"

"Reborn Mint… _Echo!"_

The three mews desperately tried to destroy the green substance, without avail.

Minto shrieked in pain as she got hit by the monster, not able to dodge quickly enough as she concentrated on rescuing Zakuro.  
"Attack the monster first!" Zakuro commanded, calm despite being wrapped in some unknown substance.

Suddenly the air around Zakuro shimmered and the hooded figure that Keiichiro had been observing appeared next to her.

"I'll take care of her for now." His (her?) voice resounded deep in their minds, as if it was etched in. With those words and an evil, echoing laugh, the monster disappeared, along with Zakuro and the hooded person, their companion still struggling to get out.

Lettuce, Pudding, and Minto dropped to the ground, exhausted and panting. They were dazed by the shock.

_Zakuro? _C_aptured?_ It was almost impossible to believe.

They trooped back to the café, with Ryou carrying the still-unconscious Ichigo, bridal style.

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Ryou laid Ichigo gently on a chair, rousing her. She blinked, eyes getting into focus, asking, "What happened??"

Keiichiro had gone to run a scan of the fight and the green substance. The rest filled her in with what happened. "ZAKURO GOT CAPTURED?!?!?!? HOW IS THAT EVEN PO—"

"_Calm down, _Ichigo! We're all in shock! Calm down and try to figure out what to do!" Minto yelled at her, tears glinting in her eyes.

Ryou groaned and stared at the ceiling. "How did it come down to this?"

They sat in silence as each tried to think of a way to save Zakuro. Keiichiro came back from the basement-lab and told them of the results, shaking his head in puzzlement.

"I scanned the green substance that wrapped Zakuro. It has different texture to the aura of light that was around Ichigo. It doesn't seem possible, but… this substance could not have originated from this planet."

"Well it's probably from the aliens, na no da!" Pudding chipped in.

"No, I meant, like, it couldn't have originated from anywhere even remotely _near_ here. Not even from the aliens we know. It is a totally different substance, different _matter_. The, the particles shouldn't even be able to _form_ like that, but yet it is. I mean, after all, there seem to be at least _100_ protons in that element, (if it is even considered an element) which is not physically possible as it should not be able to stay in that form for so long—"

"So… you're telling us that this… green substance is not from the aliens, and not from _anywhere_ in this… universe?" Lettuce asked, interrupting Keiichiro's enthusiastic speech.

"Well there is a slight possibility that it originated from a black hole, but it must be that the equations are balanced, as nothing can really _be_ near a black hole—"

"—_yes_, but, so it's a new enemy." Ichigo interrupted again.

Keiichiro took a deep breath. "Yes. I highly doubt that the enemy is even from this _universe_."

"You mean… they're from another universe, one parallel to ours, like you said the other day?" Ichigo asked.

Ryou clapped. "Pronto. Now you've finally understood, let's actually get to the point." He said, annoyed.

"What is that supposed to _mean_?! HUUH?!?!?" Rising from her seat, Ichigo glared at Ryou. She was pissed, alright. And angry at herself for losing Zakuro, though she didn't know that. Or, maybe 'pissed' was an understatement.

"I…" Ryou muttered. That girl was dangerous.

"…"

"don't—"

"—REEE-OWWWW!!!"  
Cat shriek. Cat _battle_ shriek.

"NO!!!"

_*hiss*_

"Ow, that hurts, no, NooooooooOOOOOO!!!!!!"

*_me-ow!!!!!!!!!!*_

_!#Y#^#&^*#)^*$)($&^*$&(^*%*&$(+-*_

_(#&$*#%^!)#*$#*%^$&%^~*$#^%#(~(&!()$+_

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*In the background*:

"So how are we going to save Zakuro? How are we going to _find_ her in the first place?" Minto asked.

Keiichiro was deep in thought.

"Well… from what I know of the green substance and particle formations naturally occurring on this planet and other galactic star systems within about 20000000 light years away from us, and also what I know of—"

"Er—skip to the point, and _English, _please?" Minto snapped. None of them were in a good mood to hear scientific arguments.

"—I would say that Zakuro is now sealed in a 2-dimensional world somewhere within a 2 km radius of where she disappeared, held by the force of someone's willpower—"

"—willpower, na no da?!?!" Pudding exclaimed, not understanding.

"Yes, willpower, but from someone definitely not from this universe." Keiichiro finally managed to finish what he meant to say.

Silence.

"You're done?" Lettuce asked in surprise.

Then they realised that there had been utter silence. _Utter_ silence. Which meant that _someone_ had stopped fighting.

They turned around and realised that Ryou was holding Ichigo in her cat form with his hands loosely over her mouth. She was staring at Keiichiro with her tabby eyes, stunned by the "scientific-ness" of his speech.

Pudding ran up to Ryou and took Ichigo from his hands.

"Kitty Ichigo!!!"

She started doing acrobatic tricks with the poor little cat.

"Cartwheel spinny, na no da!"

"_MeoW!!!!!!!_"

"Double back-flip!"

"_Me~~~OOWW~~_"

"Riding the elephant!"

"_Me…owww…_"

"Single hand top spin!"

"…"

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==10 mins later==

"_MEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW~_" He finally decided that she'd had enough. After watching Pudding bounce Ichigo up and down for 10 minutes, Ryou finally caught the black tabby. She seemed to faint in his hands.

He sighed.

He tickled her and pulled her twitching tail. Moving much faster than would have been thought of a cat who just fainted from exhaustion, Ryou received a cat scratch on his face, feeling lips brush against his and suddenly Ichigo was back in her human form with a 'poof'.

"WAIT!" Ryou shrieked before Ichigo could assault him and probably cause permanent damage.

"You have 5 seconds."

"I—

"_**Five.**_**"**

"—have—

"_**Four.**_**"**

"something—

"_**Three.**_**"**

"—important—

Ichigo kept going.

"_**Two.**_**"**

"—to say—

"_**One."**_

"—about the green particle matter!!!!!!!"

"_**Zero."**_

"It's to save_ Zakuroooooo_!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ichigo's hand/claws stopped millimetres away from his face.

"It better." She said. She was in a state where so got so worked up that she became strangely calm. Maybe emotionless was a better word.

"Well…" Ryou pushed Ichigo's hand away from his face. Staring at her seriously with the full power his crystal blue eyes, he started speaking.

"Since she is, right now, trapped inside a 2 dimensional world like Keiichiro said, the only way we can rescue her is to use your powers. You have to concentrate them at different angles and fire them in a certain order."

…

"Well that's… very… specific… 'concentrate them at _different angles_ and fire them in a _certain order_' " muttered Minto. _Ha-ha, ha._

Ryou sighed. "I will work out the order to fire later. But remember, do _not_ use the full strength of your powers. If it is too strong, it may harm Zakuro and shatter the 2 dimensional plane she is on, losing her forever. "

The 4 mews gulped, realizing the full severity of the situation.

"But… how are we going to find her in the first place??" Lettuce inquired.

Ryou smiled. Gathering them into a sort of huddle, he leaned forward and started speaking in a hushed voice.

"All we have to do…"

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End of chapter!!! Phew that was one long chapter…

I know it sucks but **PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! NO SILENT READERS PLEASE!!!**

Sorry I can't update it sooner cuz my internet connection was also down and chapter 4 was just sitting in my computer, and I wasn't able to upload it…

But next chapter will be up soon!!!


	5. Memories

Yee-Hah!!! Whee I'm back… Here is chapter 5, as promised…

Er… well special thanks to Old-Fashioned Girl22 for reviewing once again and also flamingbunnies (cute name!) who gave me lots of encouragement. And also thanks to all who reviewed!

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**

**Last Chapter:**

Ryou smiled. Gathering them into a sort of huddle, he leaned forward and started speaking in a hushed voice.

"All we have to do…"

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 5:**

A woman injected a needle into the wolf girl's arm. The girl flinched, but made no other response. She had gone through many tests and injections, and she was getting bored.

A door opened. A rather tall man walked in. "Are all the samples ready?" He asked with a deep voice.

The woman nodded. "All is ready."

"Good. Is she fit for it?" He narrowed his eyes at the wolf girl.

"Yes."

"Carry her and follow me."

Obeying orders, the woman picked up the wolf girl, who struggled against her bonds, and followed the man out of the room.

**

* * *

**

"Got it?" Ryou asked.

Everyone nodded, and went back to work, each silently going over the instructions that Ryou had said.  
The plan would but put into action… _tonight._

**

* * *

**

Ichigo was still sorting out the details of the plan and how to slip away from her parents when she ran into Ryou.

"Watch where you're going!" He scolded.  
Ichigo continued mopping the floor, appearing not to have heard.

"Hey! Did you hear me?!" Ryou demanded. He stretched out his long arms and caught hold of Ichigo's chin. Turning it to face him, he repeated his question.

"Wha—?" Ichigo seemed to have just noticed him. She yelped slightly in surprise.

"Arrrgh… Never mind…" Ryou muttered, rolling his eyes.. Ichigo looked at him curiously. Their eyes met and they realized that their faces were incredibly close.

They both leaped back at once, Ichigo's mop clattering to the ground. A faint blush was creeping on to both their faces.

"I've… got to mop the—"

"I still have to sort out—" They both started speaking at once. Ichigo picked up her mop from the ground and made a quick escape, her heart thumping.

_What was that about?_ She asked herself. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she continued mopping the ground.

Ryou stood in the corridor, still thinking about what happened. _Woah. Close shave._

"Ryou?" Keiichiro appeared around the corridor.  
"Yah?" Ryou gathered his thoughts and focused on Keiichiro.

"Come on let's go." Keiichiro beckoned.

They went to the basement where they ran a final check of the plan, making sure there weren't any big faults. If there were, the cost would be Zakuro's life.

**

* * *

**

_Why did __I ever agree to that stupid plan?! _Ichigo asked herself as she walked through the pounding rain to the café.

It was 11 at night and she had just snuck out of her house, shaping her blankets to look like she still slept there, in case her parents went to the bathroom and noticed.

Deep inside, she knew that she must do this, to rescue Zakuro. Even so, she wasn't very happy with the arrangements.

Cursing Ryou, she wrapped her coat tighter around her.

**

* * *

**

Minto was walking to the café too, holding a big umbrella. She was wrapped in many layers to keep warm.

_We must rescue Zakuro,_ She thought with determination.

**

* * *

**

"Aaah!" Lettuce let out a cry as she bumped into a small figure in the pouring rain. She had told her parents that she was staying at a friend's home for a night.

"Pudding?" She asked after recovering from shock.

"It's me, na no da." Pudding replied, her voice muffled from the layers she was wearing. They turned around the corner and walked to the café together.

**

* * *

**

Ryou let out a deep sigh after drinking what seemed like his 30th cup of coffee tonight. _They should be here by now,_ he thought. _I hope that all goes well…_

He put down his cup and gathered his stuff. Calling to Keiichiro, he walked into the main hall of the café, to wait for the 4 mews.

**

* * *

**

The door opened. Ichigo stepped in, shaking off the droplets of water on her. She was first, surprisingly…

_The __café looks kinda scary in the dark, with rain lashing against the window… _ She thought. _I never realized how different it looks during nighttime…_

Suddenly, lighting struck from the sky, with a great crack.

"NYA!!!!" Ichigo shrieked, her cat ears and tail popping out.

"You're scared of lightning?" A voice came out of the darkness. Ichigo jumped, and then realized who it was. Ryou.

"No I'm not— NYA!!!!" She shrieked yet again as another lightning cracked. She kneeled and huddled on the ground, shivering. Ryou walked over to her. She was shaking really badly. This was unlike Ichigo…

"…Ichigo?"

Her only reply was continued whimpers of fear.

He knelt down beside her. Putting one arm on her shoulder, he felt her tremors. Impulsively, he pulled her into a hug. "It's all right… there's nothing to be scared of…" He tried to comfort her, murmuring words in a comforting tone.

Yet another lightning stuck the sky mercilessly. Ichigo trembled even more, and Ryou pulled her into a even tighter hug. In response, Ichigo snuggled closer, trying to take in comfort, in her fear.

"No…" She whimpered, as if lost in memories. No. She _was_ lost in memories.

**

* * *

**

_**Flash.**_

_She stood in the heavy rain, holding a small umbrella. Cars zoomed by. No one noticed the little girl standing alone on the side of the road._

_Lightning flashed again, followed by a loud boom of thunder that drove fear to her core. She shivered._

_She was crying. No one was there to help her. No one. She was alone, truly alone, despite all the cars passing by._

_Another shocking crack of lightning. _

_Cold struck her from all sides, forcing in the pain and the loneliness. She felt helpless. Uncared for. Alone. _

_Crack. Boom. A streak of lightning struck the pavement mercilessly, narrowly missing her. _

_Even the sky hated her, it seemed._

_No one paid any attention. No one cared. She was alone, alone in this big, wide, unfriendly world._

_**Flash.**_

**

* * *

**

The hopelessness of the situation filled Ichigo. Tears fell from her eyes, and she felt that same hollowness in her heart.

"Ichigo… it's alright… I'm here…" Ryou comforted her best he could. He didn't understand what was going on. _Why is she crying? It's just lightning._

He used his jacket to daub at Ichigo's eyes. "Please don't cry…" _Please. I cannot stand to see you cry, _He thought.

Sniffing, Ichigo got to her feet. She seemed to get to her senses.

"I'm sorry… for all that…" She muttered. She slid away from him.

Ryou suddenly realized what position they were in. He took his hands off her shoulders at once.

"I, I, sorry for…" he made several gestures to his arm.

Ichigo shook her head. "It's okay…"

**

* * *

**

"WHAT?!" Ryou shouted out loud as Ichigo explained why she had been so scared, describing her memory. "You were all alone, on the side of the road in a storm?! How could your parents leave you like that? That's just so-"

"No, Shirogane!" Ichigo made wild gestures. "No, it's not what you think…"

She looked down at the tiled floor. "You see… this memory, it's not mine." She said, shaking her head. "I was never stuck in the storm on a strange road." She didn't fully understand what she herself was trying to explain. But she tried to make her point clear.

"This memory… doesn't belong to _me_…"

**

* * *

**

Whew… sorry this is not very long… but I will put chapter 6 soon… I was planning to write more in this chpt but if I write more it'll get REALLY long so… there.

But next chapter will come soon… I promise…

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!! ****Stuff will get more interesting soon… just please stay with me…**


	6. Effort made: achieved what?

Yo!!!! People so sorry to, er, update so late… why not many ppl review… Silent readers please speak up!!!

Anyways lets go straight to the story:

* * *

**Last Chapter:**

"This memory… it doesn't belong to _me_…"

* * *

**Chapter 6:**

The words rang in the sudden silence. Even the raging storm outside seemed to stop for a moment. _What does she mean? The memory… not __be __hers_? How could that be? Ryou didn't understand.

"Ichigo… what do you mean by that?"

Ichigo raised her tear stained face. "The memories belonged to someone else… I-I don't know! Don't ask me!" She shook her head, grasping her red hair, not wanting to think about it.

"Okay…" Ryou decided that he would have to ask her another day, when she was in a better condition.

Ichigo was still badly shattered from the memory. But from what she had said, it seemed that she was receiving memories from another person, which is not really possible… or she had memories that she didn't know she had, which is odd as well…

"Will you be able to fight tonight?" He asked the crouching girl.

"I…" Ichigo's voice quivered with doubt.

BANG.

The door of the mew mew café opened. Three panting girls rushed in, cascading droplets of rain water all over the floor.

Seeing them, Ichigo smiled, her confidence building up. Looking at Ryou, she said, "I will fight, no matter what." She stood up, proclaiming. "For Zakuro! For the future of the Earth, I will be of service NYA!"

Using the back of her hand, she wiped away her tears. "Let's go! TOKYO MEW MEWs!"

At that moment, lightning cracked again, and Ichigo's ears and tail flashed, spoiling the moment. The terror she felt from before was gone, leaving only the jumpy cat instincts.

"Meow!!!"

Everyone laughed at Ichigo, who was laughing slightly herself. Everything was back to normal. Ichigo looked at Ryou, her eyes pleading, asking him not to mention what had happened. That would just arouse too much concern.

Ryou nodded. Then he gathered everybody's attention.

"Keiichiro has found the information we need. REMEMBER what I told you. And, _trust in your powers._ Doubt yourself, and it won't work. You know what the consequence is, if we fail."

_Zakuro._ They could not afford to lose her.

"Ready?" Ryou asked. "Keiichiro?" He called over his shoulder.

"—coming…" Keiichiro appeared from the basement, bringing his laptop. "Let's go…"

"TOKYO MEW MEW— TRANSFORM!"

"**Mew Mew Strawberry, Metamorphosis****!"**

"**Mew Mew Mint, Metamorphosis!"**

"**Mew Mew Lettuce, Metamorphosis!"**

"**Mew Mew Pudding****, Metamorphosis!"**

It was odd not to hear Zakuro's cry for transformation. They felt another pang of loss. Yet it strengthened their determination and resolve.

_We can do it. We_ will_ rescue Zakuro._

"The location is at the eastern part of Tokyo. I'll lead the way."  
Keiichiro folded his notebook, and beckoned. He opened the door and ran into the rain, the rest following.

"Miaow!! I _hate_ the rain!! I hate getting wet!" Ichigo moaned. Nevertheless, she kept on following Keiichiro.

**

* * *

**

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost…"

-----------------------------

*A while later*

"Are we there_ yet_?"

"Nearly."

-----------------------------

"Now?"

"Just a little further…"

-----------------------------

"How about now?"

"…"

-----------------------------

"_Now??"_

**

* * *

**

Finally, they did get there. It had seemed like hours running in the rain, but in reality it was only 15 mins.

"Aaa-CHO!" Pudding rubbed her nose.

"Pudding, try your best to keep it in when we go inside, ok?" Lettuce warned Pudding. If they were discovered, they may not be able to rescue Zakuro, and the enemies may shut Zakuro away forever…

"Okay, na no da…" Pudding looked like she was about to sneeze, but managed to stop it in time.

"Hush." Ryou silenced them. He pointed to Keiichiro, indicating for them to listen to him.

"The plane that Zakuro is held in is on the third floor of the building, in a small room. The plane itself should be quite big, for Zakuro to be inside. Look for whiteboards, etc."

The 4 mews nodded. "Follow me then." He said.

So they followed him into the building, creeping as silently as they could. Ichigo couldn't help shake herself once she got out of the rain. Cat instincts…

Fortunately for them, the pounding rain disguised their sounds and movements. They crept to the third floor successively without being discovered… or so they thought.

**

* * *

**

_Fools__… Do you really think you can fool me? Your plans are so juvenilely simple. You'll need more than that to outwit me… You cannot help her break free of my will so easily… _

Laughter filled the room.

_A trap awaits__… A trap that clever disguised… You fools will never find out until it is too late… and by that time… _

A smirk appeared on that inhumanly beautiful face.

_Your team is much weaker without the Wolf Girl, _Tokyo Mew Mews_, and I will pick you off, one by one…_

Again the person laughed, looking at the screen which the 4 mews, Ryou and Keiichiro could be seen.

**

* * *

**

Time passed agonizingly slowly as they prowled around, afraid to make any sound. They had arrived at the room that Keiichiro mentioned, and was going around searching for flat planes (surfaces).

"Pssst!" Ichigo gestured wildly and indicated a large post-it board. It seemed to be shimmering with a faint light, and yet not at the same time…

Ryou nodded. This should be it. Bringing it to the wall, he laid it gently down. He stepped back and looked at the mews.

Ichigo started first. "Strawberry Bell," She whispered. Her beloved weapon appeared in her hand.

She looked at Pudding. "Pudding ring." She summoned quietly.

"Mint Arrow."

"Lettuce Castanets."

Each of the mew now held their weapons in their hand. They held it to a 90 degree angle, holding it straight out.

"Pudding ring _Inferno!"_

"Mint _Echo!"_

"Lettuce _Rush_!"

"Strawberry _Check_!" They fired their attacks at a low level. As Ryou told them to, they did not use their reborn attacks.

"Weapons!" Ryou ordered.

The 4 girls formed a semicircle, each sticking their weapon in.

"Reborn—

"Pudding ring—

"Mint—

"Lettuce—

"Strawberry—

"_Inferno/Echo/Rush/Check!" _

They gathered their powers into one ball. Using a lot of willpower, they made the ball of power move towards the plane. Time seemed to have slowed to a stop. They never faltered, all determined to rescue Zakuro. Yet they could feel the ball of power draining their strength. They must hurry.

"A… bit… more…" Ichigo's voice was strained with effort.

They used pure willpower to complete the last few seconds of the moving. They watched as the ball slowly sank into the board smoothly, seamlessly merging with it. They stared, waiting for something to happen.

Time trickled by as all 12 eyes continued staring at that post-it board, leaning against the wall.

"What…" Lettuce's voice was faint with dread.

As four bodies fell to the ground in exhaustion, Ichigo thought she saw a flicker of light before being consumed by darkness…

**

* * *

**

Wahh!! Chapter 6 already??!? I'm sorry that this chapter is so short… My mom was kinda yelling at me to go to sleep so, there goes the chapter… Nothing happened much I know but there are still lots to come… plots and disguises that may turn the mews on each other… darkness hidden behind the light… am I revealing too much!? Oops…

Anyways PLEASE REVIEW!!! I am not updating until I get 2 more reviews…


	7. Could it be?

NYA!!!! Muahahah… I am back!!! Muahaha…

_All readers: O.o What is wrong with her?!?_

Me: Mauahahah… I am HYPER!!!!

_Everybody else: __"…"_

ME: Thankies to those who reviewed!!! (for chappie 6)

* * *

**Last Chapter:**

4 bodies fell to the ground as they fainted from exhaustion.

Ichigo thought she saw a _flicker_ of light before being consumed by darkness…

* * *

**Chapter 7: Could it be?**

Ichigo's eyes fluttered open. She stared at the ceiling. _Wait… this is not my home ceiling!_

She bolted upright in the bed, her sore muscles protesting.

"Wha—" Her eyes widened as she took in her surroundings. She was in Ryou Shirogane's room. On his bed.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!" She screamed. That caused Ryou to run from the bathroom, where he had been shaving. He had shaving cream on his chin, and was holding a razor.

"What's wrong?!? Is there an enemy?!" He asked.

"What's WRONG?!?!? I'm in your ROOM! And I was sleeping in it!!! On your _bed_!!! That's what's wrong!" Ichigo shrieked.

Ryou took a moment to absorb this. Calmly shaking his head, he said, "Well I'm _sorry_ we didn't have enough rooms to let you all sleep in this luxurious hotel."

Ichigo fumed. "But of all places did I _have_ to sleep in your _bed?!?"_

"Nothing wrong with that." Ryou calmly stated. He started to go back to the bathroom, to continue shaving. Ichigo then realized that he was wearing nothing but a towel around his slim waist. She blushed like mad and looked in another direction.

Looking at the other side of the room, her expression went like this: O.o

"RYOU SHIROGANE!" She yelled. She stared in horror at the spot next to her. There was another pillow beside hers, and it had marks of being slept on.

"YOU SLEPT HERE?!?" She pointed at the spot beside her. "NEXT TO ME?!!?"

"Well, its my room…" He started.

Ichigo fainted.

**

* * *

**

Keiichiro brewed coffee in the kitchen. Judging by the volume of Ichigo's yells, she had found out. Keiichiro sighed. He had warned Ryou, but he didn't seem to care. He took several cups of drinks and brought it to the room where Mint, Lettuce, and Pudding were sleeping. He laid it down gently on the table, and shook each of them awake.

"…" Each of them protested, but gradually got up. They sipped some coffee (tea for Minto), and were wide awake in about 2 minutes.

"Why are we here…" Minto asked. Her eyes suddenly widened. "ZAKURO-san! We didn't manage to save her…" She started to cry.

"No, no, it's fine, Minto, don't cry!" Keiichiro gestured wildly.

"Zakuro is fine."

"WE SAVED HER?!?! WHERE IS SHE!?!?" the 3 mews burst out simultaneously. Keiichiro calmed them down, and continued.

"She is fine, but still very fragile. Her body is re-adjusting to the 3-dimensional world. We must let her rest."

**

* * *

**

Ichigo woke up. Yet again, she remembered what had happened, and her body swayed, threatening to collapse again.

She still couldn't take in the fact that she had slept, for a whole night, next to Ryou.

"NYA…" She yawned wearily. Too bad that last night… _last night!!!!!_ _Zakuro!_

"SHIROGANE!!!" She yelled.

"What…?" Ryou's weary reply came from the bathroom.

"Er… last night…" Ichigo started.

"Yes?"

"Well, what happened after, eh, we blacked out?" She asked.

Sighing, Ryou walked out of the bathroom. "Which part do you want to know?" He said wearily.

"Er… everything?" Ichigo said. Seeing the expression on Ryou's face, she continued, "Well… did we save Zakuro? I thought I saw something before I fainted…"

He nodded. "Yes. Zakuro got out." He hesitated, then continued. "She is still very weak… it appears that something is wrong with her… but it shouldn't be anything fatal."

"Can I see her?" Was Ichigo's question.

"I'm afraid not. She is still in a critical condition and must have rest." Ryou said.

A sigh was Ichigo's only reply.

**

* * *

**

"Now, ladies, drink up, and you have today off work." Keiichiro ushered them.

"But, how is Zakuro?" They persisted.

"She needs rest. Her body still needs to re-adjust; I told you already. You can see her in 3 hours. It should be long enough."

"Fine." With that, they gathered their things and got ready to return home. Just then, Pudding realized that they had forgotten about Ichigo.

"Where is Ichigo-san, na no da?" She asked.

"She is in another room. We couldn't fit you all in here." Keiichiro replied.

"Which room, na no da?" Pudding asked again.

"Ryou's room." Keiichiro couldn't avoid telling them. _Sorry._ He mentally told the couple upstairs.

"!!!!!!!!!" The 3 mews gaped at him. "You gotta be kidding…"

"No, I'm not…"

As if to prove that point, they heard Ichigo's shrieks of dismay.

"See…"

**

* * *

**

"RYOU SHIROGANE!!! DON'T EVER SLEEP ANYWHERE NEAR ME AGAIN!!!" Ichigo yelled, not caring about the double meaning in those words.

"... er… you've got today off work…" To be honest, he had enjoyed last night. Having Ichigo next to him was a great comfort. She was so warm, and cute…

"Good! Finally! A day off work!!" Ichigo got her things and ran out, muttering, "Er… thanks for bringing me back…", almost inaudible.

Ryou grinned. _You're welcome_, he thought. Remembering something, he followed her out, calling "Ichigo! You can come back in 3 hours to see Zakuro!"

"Okay—" Ichigo replied. She ran back home, where her parents were… still sleeping (it's Saturday!). Sneaking in, she crawled back to her bed, and pretended she had never left.

**

* * *

**

**XxXxXxXxXxX 3 hours later XxXxXxXxXxX**

"Mom I told you I am going to a friend's house! BYE!" Ichigo ran out of the house, towards the mew mew café. She wondered how Zakuro was doing.

She was panting hard when she got there. Minto, Pudding, and Lettuce had just arrived.

"You're here to see Zakuro-san too?" Lettuce asked.

"Y-yes…" She was still panting. "Let's… go…"

The 4 mews went together to the basement lab.

"Shirogane!" Can we see Zakuro?!" Ichigo called out to the darkness.

"Sure." The reply came from Keiichiro. He walked over. "This way."

He lead them to a room where Zakuro was resting.

**

* * *

**

"Zakuro-san!" They yelled with pure joy as they saw their comrade and friend.

"Hush." They jumped at the sound of Ryou's, who had somehow mysteriously appeared. "Not too loud."

Ichigo sat down on the edge of Zakuro's bed. "Zakuro-san…" She murmured. She looked at Keiichiro, asking, "Is she awake?"

"She woke a while ago, and is resting."

Ichigo nodded. She reached out her hand, patting Zakuro on the shoulder.

"I'm awake." Zakuro opened her sapphire eyes. "I'm fine…" She sounded tired.

The mews yelled for joy, stopping when Ryou glared at them.

"It's just… there is one thing. I… can't transform for now."

Silence greeted these words.

"Why, na no da?" Pudding asked.

"Well, my powers have been affected by the flipping of 2 and 3 dimensions, temporarily. Just like my body needs to re-adjust, my powers will take longer."

It seemed reasonable enough. After all, none of them had even been trapped in a 2-dimensional world before…

"Do you remember who the people were?" Ryou asked, straight to the point.

Zakuro looked at him. For a moment, he thought he saw a glitter of triumph in those eyes, which flashed red. Nobody else seemed to notice. The trick of the light, maybe.

"I don't really remember. After the person took me away, I blacked out, and then the next thing I knew, I was 2-D. It's not hard to know, you can _feel_ it. Then, I saw you pour power into the plane I was in. I felt a gradual uplifting, coming into the 3-D world. It felt strange, I fainted again, and I was back here."

Everyone nodded—except Ryou, who was looking curiously at Zakuro. Piecing several ideas together, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Zakuro… can I see your mew mark?"

She looked at him again, as if weighing him with her eyes. "Okay." Lifting her shirt a little, she revealed her belly button. "It's just that… when I got slashed by the monster… it's still healing and you can't really see the mark."

True enough, the mew mark could barely be seen under her healing flesh. She covered it after a moment, and said, "Why do you ask, Shirogane?"

"Just curious." Was Ryou's curt reply.

After a few more questions, etc, Keiichiro finally ushered them out, insisting that they leave Zakuro alone. They trooped back out reluctantly.

**

* * *

**

The computer was beeping. Ryou ran over to see what the problem was. After staring at it for a moment, he said, "Keiichiro. You've gotta come look at this."

Both men looked at the computer screen for quite a while. _It couldn't be…_

"Too many unexpected things have been happening lately…" Ryou muttered. He turned around to face the mews.

"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked.

Ryou took a deep breath, and began. "A strong intake of power has been summoned in an area close by. A while ago, a sort of black hole appeared, and started sucking in energy. Normal people wouldn't notice it, but our sensors have come up with it."

"Is is the aliens' doing?" Lettuce asked timidly.

"No." Keiichiro intercepted. "We," He looked at Ryou, who nodded. "We think that it may be the forming of a portal."

_A portal?!?_ The same thought rebounded in the 4 mew's minds. _What??!?_

"Where does the portal go to?"

"A parallel universe. We had no idea that this would happen. The chances of 2 universes actually touching are… one in a billion, or less…"

"Also… an upsurge of power similar to yours appeared…"

"How could that be!?" Ichigo exclaimed.

**

* * *

**

They ran to the place where the mass intakes of power had been recorded. Haze and smoke emerged from an abandoned underground basement.

A vaguely glowing blob of darkness swirled in the centre of the space, causing everything to whirl around it. It seemed to be sucking in everything around it, and yet not at the same time. It looked almost like an illusion.

They approached the swirling debris carefully, walking in. The mews had transformed, just in case. The swirling blob looked more menacing than ever.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, came a voice, a clear ringing tone that cut through piercingly, demandingly.

"Who tries to enter the Lynesif portal? State your names."

Out of the looming darkness, a figure appeared. The figure of a mew…

**

* * *

**

WOW! A new mew! (yes, it is a new mew…). I originally wanted to add more detail, but… I guess I'll put that in the next chapter…

**PLEASE REVIEW!!!!**

I suppose nothing interesting has happened so far… except for the little hints I drop here and there (do you notice them?) that may reveal what is going on…

Zakuro… she seems different, doesn't she? A new mew! Who could that be, and what was she doing at the portal?!?! So many questions that could be asked!!

So… er… if u wanna find out, stay tuned to… "A New Mission"!! Chapter 8 will be up ASAP.


	8. Friend or Foe?

It's kinda hard to believe that it's my 8th chapter already…

SORRY for taking so long to update…

**

* * *

**

**Last Chapter:**

Out of the looming darkness, a figure appeared. The figure of a mew…

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 8: Friend or Foe?**

Keiichiro, Ryou, and the mews couldn't believe their eyes. Was it really the figure of, of, one of them, a mew?

Pudding clutched Lettuce's hands, whispering, "Lettuce-san… do you see what I see, na no da…?" Doubt quivered in that question. Yet, that seemed to be the question that everyone felt like asking.

Lettuce whispered back, "I… think so… A mew mew…"

Her words were heard by all that were in the group, confirming that fact that they weren't dreaming or hallucinating.

The figure spoke again, repeating its question. "Who tries to enter the Ŀyňę§ϊ₣ portal? State your names."

Now that they heard her more clearly, they realized that the name of the portal didn't sound like any language they had heard of. The word itself contained power of its own.

"We are the Tokyo Mew Mew." Ichigo said bravely.

"Baka!" Ryou muttered. "Who speaks?" He raised his voice.

A chuckle sounded in the chilling darkness. "Who… am I…?" For some reason, those few simple words sent shivers down the listener's spines.

"I am the guardian of this portal." Was all the person said. She stepped forward, and they could see her figure silhouetted against the shimmer of darkness.

From what could be seen in the darkness, the mew had pointy wolf/dog-like ears, sticking out like Zakuro's.

Long dark hair flanked her body, like a cape, reaching below her slender waist. A sleeveless black top ended just above her waist, revealing her belly button. Her shoulders were bare, but halfway down her upper arm cloth sleeves extended, then firming up to become a long glove. A mini-skirt blossomed from her lower waist, matched with boots that went above her knees. It was definitely one of them. And she was transformed, too.

"Are… are you a mew?" Ichigo asked.

The figure did not respond to her question. Ignoring it, she said, "State your purpose of coming here. The Ŀyňę§ϊ₣ portal does not welcome strangers."

Her tone was dead and emotionless.

"We came here to check out the sudden upsurge of power in this place." Ryou answered.

"You are not the guardians of this place, or anywhere else. Why do you meddle with such affairs? What you call the 'upsurge of power'... what does it have to do with you?"

"This… well…" He had no answer to such a question.

"Why shouldn't we care? It is our duty to protect the safety of others!" Ichigo prepped up.

"And who entrusted you this duty? Who ever said that you had to protect others?" Her voice was still as emotionless.

"Well… why not? We have the special ability to fight the Chimera Anima, and it is human nature for one to protect another!" Ichigo was getting worked up.

The mysterious mew laughed. "Humans are weak, selfish creatures. Why should you protect them?"

"Because," Lettuce spoke up, her eyes flashing with determination. "Amongst them, there are ones that we love, and ones that love us. We must use our power to protect others."

The mew seemed stunned by Lettuce's sudden emotional speech. Her eyes hardened, and she spoke in a harsh voice, uttering a single word.

"Fools."

Ichigo looked ready to argue, but Ryou stepped in front of her to say, "Don't."

"But—"

Ryou's glare silenced her. Turning around, he looked at the stranger. "You… are you a mew?"

"Whether I am and whether I wish to be a… _mew_ is different." She spat out bitterly.

"That is not an answer. _Are_ you a mew?" Ryou persisted.

"Define 'a mew'."

He frowned in frustration. "… At least… tell me, what is your name?"

"My name…" the girl murmured. A wave of sadness surged in her eyes, but was quickly replaced with cold calculation. "I do not… I do not need a name." She said icily, though in the darkness, her eyes glinted with a bit of sadness, and… regret.

Ichigo saw this, and said, "Why do you not need a name? You, are you, and must therefore have a name to, to…" She trailed off.

"What animal's DNA do you have?" Minto spoke for the first time.

"Why should I tell you?"

"You don't have to." Minto said calmly. "But it would be nice to know."

"My DNA… is crossed with that of a Tasmanian tiger."

"What?!?" Ryou said in surprise. "But… but…"

"But what, Shirogane?" Ichigo interrupted.

Regaining his calm and composure, Ryou said, "The Tasmanian Tiger, also known as the Tasmanian Wolf, is a brown furred animal with black stripes. It is a red data animal, but… but…"

"but _what?_ Stuttering is not like you, Shirogane." Ichigo said impatiently.

"The tasmanian tiger… it's extinct, and its been that way for, like, 60 years!" Ryou shook his head, making his blond hair flutter. "You can't possibly create a mew from an _extinct_ animal!" (A'N: the Tasmanian tiger/wolf really _is_ extinct for about 60 years. These are true facts!)

* * *

"Shirogane-san… what is 'extinct', na no da?" Pudding asked.

"Er…"

"I'll tell you." Lettuce pulled Pudding aside and started explaining what 'extinct' meant.

* * *

"Erm… excuse me, just asking, when did you, er, become a mew?" Ichigo asked the girl.

"Do not call me a 'mew'. I am not one of you. I… have been this way as long as I can remember. My task is to protect this portal and its secrets." The mew kept her icy tone.

"Why has the portal appeared suddenly?" Keiichiro asked.

"Do you really need to know? Will you understand if I tell you?" The tiger girl laughed with scorn. "Fate, Destiny. Whatever you believe in."

Suddenly the portal seemed to flicker in size, contracting and expanding. A faint light veiled through, brightening into a white light. The light pierced the eyes of the on-lookers, but then it retreated as suddenly as it came.

"љшюяђўґждζΘε!" A strange cry escaped from the girl, who was now facing the dark portal. It sounded like a spell; a command. She raised her left hand. On it was a floating sphere of strange light.

"ζΰЉǿĦΞэќ…" she muttered. The blob of light flew into the portal.

Without turning around, she spoke to them, commanding, "It is time for you to leave. Hurry back. Your… _friend_ needs you." The word 'friend' sounded forced and sarcastic.

Worry flashed between the mews and the 2 men. Could she be indicating Zakuro? But how would she know about Zakuro?

"Thanks." Ichigo said. "It was really nice meeting you, really." Her tone was earnest. "I hope we meet again."

The figure responded with a nod, so small that they barely saw it. Suddenly, her body straightened. She lifted her head, and from a voice that was not her own flew these words, in a soft hiss: "_Beware of those you think you trust. Trust your eyes, what you see, and your instincts… Animal instincts can see through human influences… Be wary… an imposer is amongst you…_" The last few words could barely be heard.

After this sudden warning, she collapsed. The surroundings seemed to brighten a little. Ichigo ran over to help her up, but was sent flying.

"I do not need your help." Despite this, she staggered as she got up. A sheathed sword appeared in her hands, long and supple. Holding it vertical, in line with her face, she said "Leave."

Lettuce had already helped Ichigo up. The group started walking towards the exit.

The tiger girl flicked her sword, spinning it 270˚, until it was horizontal. "ΩΫЋЖǿεщю∫" She muttered, and she vanished, but her presence was still felt, guarding the portal.

"Back to the café." Ryou ordered. He seemed to want to say something, but ushered them out.

Behind them, a pair of eyes glinted in the semi-darkness, _waiting…_

**

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Another chappie over! Happy Chinese New Year to you all!! You can't believe how busy you can get during these days…

So, a new mew, huh?

The Tasmanian Tiger/Wolf really is a red data animal which is extinct. Let's just call it the Tasmanian _Tiger_ since Zakuro is already the wolf, so we won't mix things out.

Just saying, there is nothing significant about the weird language. It's not in code or anything, just selected by random.

**PLEASE REVIEW!!! Say SOMETHING!**** Even if it's just a "very bad"!**


	9. Possibilities

WOAH!!! Hot, Hot, HOT!!!!!! LOL… I got flamed… I always wondered what being 'flamed' meant, and now I do know…

Thanks to J.Y. Liu, and Carmen Hailey (both are anonymous XD) who yelled at Wrath of Flames, the person who flamed me. But it's alright. Being flamed was a new experience for me, and it was unexpectedly amusing… *shakes head*

Here is the story!

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Last Chapter:**

"Back to the café." Ryou ordered. He seemed to want to say something, but ushered them out.

Behind them, a pair of eyes glinted in the semi-darkness, _waiting…_

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**Chapter 9: Possibilities****…**

Ryou closed the door of the café. He seemed really puzzled.

"How can a mew be created from the DNA of an _extinct_ animal? That's not possible! Who created this mew anyways?!" He fumed.

The mews stayed a distance away.

Ichigo said, "Did she know about Zakuro? And… her prophecy sounded so scary…"

"How'd you know if it was a prophecy? She may be blabbing junk, for all we know…" Minto said scornfully.

"Well if it was fake, she did it really convincingly…" Lettuce mused.

"Let's go see Zakuro-san, na no da!" Pudding exclaimed. They ran to the basement, leaving Ryou still muttering, "This is not possible… must be… no, cannot…" and a whole string of gibberish, which was very unlike him…

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Ichigo put her hand on the door and pushed lightly. "Zakuro, are you there?"

"I cannot be anywhere else." Zakuro replied dryly.

"Can we come in?" Lettuce asked.

"Sure." The door opened. "So, what happened?" She asked.

Everyone started speaking at once.

"We found a new mew—

"Absolutely unbelievable—

"She was pretty, na no d—

"— guards a portal—

"Can go to other universes—

"—STOP!" Zakuro yelled. "I can't listen to everybody speak all at once…ah, Ichigo, you speak."

"We went to where the strange intake of power was… there was another mew! Could you believe it?!? And her powers were so strong… she guards the portal, it was something like Lynesef, or was it Lynesif… but the name was so strange… anyways she was so mean to us! She shooed us away! And there was a prophecy…"

Zakuro took Ichigo's blabbering without comment, then finally opening her mouth to speak.

"So… are you going to try to recruit her?"

No one replied. They hadn't thought about that… They were still trying to recover from the fact that there was another mew… with strange powers too…

"I think we should…" Ichigo told the others.

"Why? She seems like a selfish, rude, mean loner!" Minto said.

Ichigo smiled. "But... I like her… when she pushed me away, she didn't push that hard… she could have pushed much harder, to hurt me… but she didn't…" Her strawberry eyes glinted. "In her eyes, I thought I saw loneliness, when she told us to leave, and envy, at us because we're a group, so united, a group of comrades. Right? We're the Tokyo Mew Mew!"

Lettuce and Pudding nodded, but Minto raised her nose and said, "Who said I'm your _comrade_? That's_ such_ a degrading term..."

Ichigo opened her mouth to argue, but Minto smiled and gave one of her rare friendly grins. "Just joking..."

Ichigo was stunned to silence. She didn't find it very funny.

"But… what can we do about the girl? She doesn't want to see us, and won't listen to any persuasion… plus, her powers are so strong, and she guards the portal with some strange language… it sounded so weird, like the word had powers on its own… it was scary… did you get that feeling?" Lettuce asked the rest.

They nodded. Zakuro looked thoughtful. "A strange language, you say?"

"Yeah." Minto replied. "I don't think it is even from earth, or at least it isn't any modern language I know of. Lots of people visit my home, but I've never heard anyone speak like that before…"

Zakuro's eyes flashed, but she said nothing. "Did she say anything else?"

"Well… there was a prophecy… erm, it went: _Beware of those you think you trust. Trust your eyes, what you see, and your instincts… Animal instincts can see through human influences… Be wary… an imposer is amongst you…_" Ichigo's voice filled with the strange type of hypnotic light as she spoke the words. They did not come from her memory, but simply formed as a being… She shook her head. "Whoa. What did I say?"

"=.=… you just spoke the prophecy… and you looked pretty scary too, na no da…" Pudding said.

Zakuro simply looked shocked, and troubled. Recovering herself, she said, "How could there be an imposer amongst us? But, how big is the _us_? Like, would the imposer be in our immediate circle, or maybe it would be amongst our family and friends?"

Her words made sense, as usual. She continued, "We should be wary. I'm sure between us five, we aren't, erm, 'fake'. But we have to be especially cautious, seeing if they appear... different from usual, or something like that. Agreed?"

Everyone nodded. Zakuro too, nodded, satisfied that they managed to get something done.

"What are you all talking about here?" Ryou's voice made them jump.

"No-nothing! Don't scare us like that!" Ichigo yelled at him. "Anyways… looks like you've recovered from your bout of craziness… haha…" She teased.

Ryou did _not_ seem to be pleased at her comment. "Strawberry, I am not crazy. If we were to find someone who is crazy in this room, it would be you."

"Argh-hmpf!" Ichigo made an angry noise. "You…!!"

"Shirogane-san… Ichigo… don't fight…" Lettuce pleaded. They turned to her. "THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!!" They shrieked in unison. Turning to each other, they said, "Don't copy me!" and turned in another direction.

Everybody else was thinking, _O.o… they are so…__unified__… haha… XD_

They left the room one by one, except for Zakuro, who was currently the occupant of the room, said, "When will you two stop bickering? Get out of my space."

And so they left, still yelling at each other. Zakuro tapped Ichigo on the shoulder just as she left.

"Remember what I said." She said curtly, indicating about the 'cautious' thing.

**

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"What did she say to you?" Ryou asked, once they were out of the room.

"Nothing much. Not important" Ichigo told a half-lie.

"Are you sure? What did she say?! Tell me!" Ryou repeated.

"I said, nothing! Why don't you believe me?!" She replied hotly.

"What were you all talking about in that room? I have to know what is going on!" Ryou persisted, as aggravated as Ichigo.

"Why do you need to know? This is none of your business!" Ichigo glared at him. "Don't spy on other people's business!"

_Strange, _she reflected, _this is not like Shirogane… he's acting so… abnormally… he must have not slept enough._ She was reminded of how she, er, woke up this morning. She turned a delicate shade of strawberry pink, feeling a burn on her face.

"... not spying on other people's business… team… must not have secrets…" Ryou had continued to speak; she had been distracted by her own thoughts, and only managed to catch a few words.

"— Oh stop being such a fuss. It's getting late; I need to go…" Ichigo cut in. She put her cool hands on her burning cheeks (which Ryou had thankfully _not_ noticed). She turned to him once the flame on her face died down. "Good-bye." With that, she turned around and started walking off.

"Ichigo! Wait! I'm not finished!" Ryou yelled after her.

"Erm, Shirogane-san?" A voice came from behind him.

He wheeled around. "Lettuce? Yes?"

"I was just wondering about the arrangements for Zakuro. How is she?" Lettuce asked.

"Nothing special. She should be okay in a few days." Ryou replied distractedly. "Whatever. I still have something to tell Ichigo. ICHIGO!!!" He raised his voice at the end of the sentence.

He hurried away, leaving Lettuce standing in the dark (this is the basement).

_Whoa. This is weird of Shirogane not to care about the members of the team and to plan carefully__…_ Lettuce thought. She shook her head, and went out to where the remaining 2 mews were.

**

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**

"Ichigo, ICHIGO!!!" Ryou raised his voice again. Ichigo did not seem to have heard.

Covering the distance between them with a few long strides, he tapped the strawberry girl on the shoulder. "Ichigo!"

"—huh?" Ichigo stopped suddenly, causing them to collide. "Oh, sorry!" She picked herself up from the ground, taking a helping hand from Ryou.

She had been thinking about tomorrow. She shook her head, and said, "You were calling me?", rubbing her head.

"Yeah. I just wanted to tell you that you would have tomorrow off as well. The café is not opening tomorrow." He said. Looking at her, he asked casually, "How're you going home? Walking?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm… do you wanna take a ride in my car? I'll send you."

Ichigo was fully awake now, and rather suspicious . "What?!"

"Nothing, just asking if you would want me to send you." Ryou said innocently.

"_Nani_?! Since when do you send me anywhere on your car?" Ichigo asked in surprise.

"Since now." He started walking towards his car. "Are you coming or not?"

After a moment of hesitation, Ichigo ran after him. "Wait for me!"

**

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**

BANG. Ichigo shut the car door behind her. She looked at the almost hidden sun sending rays of light to the twilight sky.

"Why are you doing this? Sending me and everything?" She asked Ryou, who was already driving.

"Do I need a reason?" Ryou asked her in return.

"Well, no. But, I wanted to know—"

"No reason." Ryou said curtly.

Ichigo kept her silence. Things were getting weird. _Don't Shirogane and I always fight? Why is he so nice to me all of a sudden? His lack of sleep must be making him go crazy. This is just… totally not like him… Totally different from usual… _Those words suddenly sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite remember where she had heard them from. She focused back on the road ahead of her, a little intimidated by the speed of Ryou's driving.

They sat in silence, enjoying the wind on their faces. She glanced at him every so often, curiously.

It was getting darker, and the sun had totally disappeared by the time they reached Ichigo's house. It was also quite cold. Ichigo shivered slightly.

Ryou seemed to notice that and said, "Are you cold?"

Ichigo froze. "Yeah, but I'm fine, really."

"You're not." It was a mere statement.

Ichigo rolled her eyes. "I'm _fine_, Shirogane." She turned to glare at him, but was instead wrapped in a jacket. Ryou's jacket.

"Don't catch cold." He murmured as he made sure it wouldn't fall off. Reaching around her, he secured the jacket, pulling her into an almost-hug. It lasted only for a moment, however. He led her off the car and pushed her onto her doorstep, ignoring her protests.

He flicked her nose, "Good-bye."

He turned back to his car, but paused and faced her again.

"One more thing." He said.

He leant forward, backing the cat girl towards the door.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he got closer, and closer…

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Yoz!!! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long… sorry. Too much school work. I'll try to update as soon as I can… though I can't actually say when that will be… but I'll try my best  
^.^

Tata for now!! **Please review and comment!**


	10. Irresistable

Yo!!! I'm trying to update as soon as I can…

Thanks for ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­butterflyangellover14, KyoxSakiFan, 'unknown', and Smoochynose, who reviewed. Here's chapter 10, as I promised:

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**Last Chapter:**

He leant forward, backing the cat girl towards the door.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he got closer, and closer…

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**Chapter 10: Fate & Destiny**

Ichigo watched Ryou's face leaning in, his blond hair hanging slightly to the side, his sapphire eyes staring straight into her mocha ones.

One of his hands was on the wall, and everything seemed to be in slow motion as Ichigo saw the hot blond lean closer.

She closed her eyes and waited.

And waited.

"Baka, why did you close your eyes?" Ichigo opened them again.

His face was startlingly close, and his finger was on her little button nose. "You've got dirt on your nose, Strawberry."

'Strawberry' did indeed turn strawberry scarlet. Her cat ears and tail came out. "You, you…!!" She stuttered.

"I what?" Ryou asked amusedly.

"Argh! Nevermind!" She glared at her smirking boss. She whipped around, opened her door, and went in. She wheeled around again.

"Erm, thanks for the ride." She mumbled incoherently. She closed the door, harder than she intended, then put a hand at her thumping heart.

_Why is my heart beating so quickly? He was just showing me I had dirt on my nose. Why did you close your eyes, Baka?! What did you expect?!_ She fumed with herself.

Yet, her face remained scarlet, her heart still racing. _So what if he was so close?! It wasn't like he was going to kiss you or anything. Not that he should, or would. Arrrgh!! What am I thinking!! I have Masaya!! _ She tromped back to her room.

Flinging her bag onto her desk, she lay down onto her soft bed. "Nya- nya!" She stretched.

"Masha! Masha!! Ichigo sleep, masha!" Masha said in its cheerful voice.

Ichigo smiled at her little friend. "Yes, Masha, I'll sleep. Even though first I have to change." _I'll just close my eyes for a moment._

Tired from the day, she curled up on her bed and fell asleep almost immediately, without intending to.

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"NYA!!!!" Ichigo screamed into her pillow. She bolted upright on her bed, panting.

"Can't, can't, be. Im-impossi-ble." She gasped.

Shaking her head, she tried to recollect the fading images of her dream…

She had remembered where she had heard the words before. Her sub-consciousness must have been trying to tell her.

_**Flash.**_

She watched as Ryou's face leaned closer and closer, his sapphire eyes startlingly close. Now that she 'revisited' the scene, she noted a hint of mischievousness playing in his eyes. Yet, there was a strange degree of longing there, and a struggle too…

_**Flash.**_

They were racing along the roads on his car.

"Do I need a reason?" Ryou asked her in return.

"Well, no. But, I wanted to know—"

"No reason." Ryou said curtly.

She kept her silence. Things were getting weird.

_Don't Shirogane and I always fight? Why is he so nice to me all of a sudden? His lack of sleep must be making him go crazy. This is just… totally not like him… Totally different from usual… _Those words suddenly sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite remember where she had heard them from.

_**Flash.**_

"What were you all talking about in that room? I have to know what is going on!" Ryou persisted, as aggravated as her.

"Why do you need to know? This is none of your business!" She glared at him. "Don't spy on other people's business!"

_Strange_, she reflected, _this is not like Shirogane… he's acting so… abnormally… he must have not slept enough._

_**Flash.**_

"Remember what I said." She said curtly, indicating about the 'cautious' thing.

_**Flash.**_

"How could there be an imposer amongst us? But, how big is the _us_? Like, would the imposer be in our immediate circle, or maybe it would be amongst our family and friends? We have to be especially cautious, seeing if they appear... different from usual, or something like that." Zakuro said.

Different from normal.

Imposer.

_**Flash.**_

_No, no, it can__'t be. _

"It's impossible." She said out loud, as if it would be more real. It didn't seem to work. The idea stuck in her head, not easily pushed away.

_It can__'t be… Shirogane can't be the imposer!! He's, he's Shirogane!__ He's our creator!__ He can't be a traitor!_

Yet, she thought, being imposed upon didn't necessarily mean he was a traitor. After all, he may just have been kidnapped and then hidden away, while a fake Shirogane Ryou took the real one's place.

She shuddered at the thought of the real Ryou being tied in some place.

_Well, _she tried to think more logically. _How can I be sure that the Ryou I saw just now was a doppelganger? He may have just been acting weird…_

A big part of her did not want to believe that Ryou was 'fake'. She would not accept it. How could she?

Ichigo hugged the pillow tight, burying her face in the soft material.

_What can __I do? _She thought as she lay back down on her bed, staring at the ceiling as sleep consumed her once more.

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**XOXOXOXOXOX ****Next Day**** XOXOXOXOXOX**

"Nya-mm." Ichigo murmured as she flipped herself over on her bed. "Nya, nya, Mmmm…" She twitched, probably dreaming of fish.

"Ichigo!! Ichigo!!! Late!! Late!!" Masha cried.

"Mm… wasama'er? Ssshhh… 'm sleepin'. " She mumbled, half asleep.

"Ichigo!! Ichigo!!! Late, school!! Late!!" The fluffy pink ball flew around agitatedly.

"Wha?? Hm?!" Ichigo finally opened her heavily lidded eyes. They flew upon her bedside clock.

"NNNNNYNYYYYAAAA!!!!!!!" She screamed, practically shaking the whole house.

"WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THE CLOCK!?! NYA!! NYA!!!"

She rushed around, instantly awake, shoving on her clothes and hastily tying her hair.

"Nya, nya, nya, nya, nya…" She said under her breath.

"MOM!!! I'm going to school!!!" She screamed as she slammed her bedroom door and rushed to the front door with an astonishing speed.

"Can't believe this, can't believe this, can't believe this, can't believe this!!! AHHH!!!"

She practically zoomed out onto the road, running in the anime fashion where their legs became a whirlwind- like wheel.

_Eeeeeeek__kkkk._ She stopped suddenly, letting out a sound that was similar to the squealing of brakes.

"Shirogane?" She said in surprise.

The blond looked up. "Hello, baka." He said, uncharacteristically cheerful.

Ichigo eyed him suspiciously, thinking about the dream she had. Could her theory be right?

"M-morning." She said. "I'm sorry, I'm LATE FOR SCHOOL!!" Her astonishment had made her forget about school, and she recalled that with a jolt of nasty surprise.

"Gotta GO—"

"Why don't I send you?" Ryou offered. Ichigo looked at him, weighing the odds. There's no harm in accepting, she thought. At least I won't be late. Hopefully.

She bit her lip, and nodded. "Get in." He told her. He started the engine, and they sped off.

**

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**

"Shirogane, why were you, erm, at my door?" Ichigo asked timidly.

Ryou cocked his head to one side, studying her face intently, searching for something intensely, filled with complicated emotions—

"Baka. You forgot? _Remember my jacket_?" Ryou's face snapped back to playfulness.

Ichigo blushed. Right. She _had_ forgotten. It was in her room. She was jolted a sudden realization. She had gone to sleep with his jacket wrapped around her. Her tail and ears, which had been threatening to reveal themselves, popped out.

Ryou grinned. "I guess not."

Ichigo looked away. _Yet, I'm sure there's another reason for him coming… what does he want from me?_

Her thoughts were jumbled as she felt a touch on her hand. Her hand twitched without meaning to, and she turned to see the cause.

Ryou was holding it. Her ears popped out again, after finally managing to hide them with great effort. She froze, and wondered what he was going to do with it.

"Strawberry, can you be a little smarter and move your hand away? I need to change gear." Even though his words were harsh, his hand was gentle as he laid it back on her lap, resuming his driving.

Ichigo mumbled something like 'sorry', and tried to keep her heart from jumping so erratically.

"Don't be late." Ryou stopped the car. They were already at the school. "Remember, no work today. But you should come anyways. We need to have a meeting."

Ichigo nodded, and got out of the car, taking a glance at the clock. She smiled. "See ya then."

Ryou smiled too, with a twinkle of mischievousness in his beautiful blue eyes. "Okay. _Try_ not to be late again." He drove away, laughing. Ichigo fumed, but felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

_Why does he have to be so freaking cute? _She thought as she ran to her locker and then her class, oblivious to what may happen next…

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Whoa! Another car ride!! This is crazy… is my sub-consciousness trying to tell me I wanna ride in a car?!

Lol… when I updated chapter nine I was still so 'in the mood' that I immediately wrote out chapter 10… sigh… must be going crazy… But this chapter was… not so good… sigh…

Anywayz… that was a bonus to my readers. If there are any. Hopefully next chapter will be up just as fast.

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	11. Forget

Yo… I'm freaking tired.

Like, really tired. So much homework… haiiz.

I simply can't wait till the Easter break…

I watched the day go by, time itself flitting amongst us, escaping bit by bit…Yet, why does time seem last so long and at the same time, slip away so quickly? How I yearn for the Easter holidys…I wait for its approach, silently begging for time to pass faster… The beginnings of spring start to form, changing, yet I remain—

**CUT.**

I'm sorry. Don't know what got into me =.=

Anyways: the story!

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**Last Chapter:**

_Why does he have to be so freaking cute? _She thought as she ran to her locker and then her class, oblivious to what may happen next…

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**Chapter 11:**

"G-Gomenasai!!! Sorry!!" Ichigo panted as she burst into the classroom, late. Only a few heads turned in her direction. This was an almost daily scene, and none of the people were surprised.

Ichigo ducked her head and hurried to her desk. The teacher glared at her slightly, but turned back to the board with a resigned sigh.

"Morning, Ichigo." Moe whispered. "You're a bit earlier than usual."

Ichigo hesitated, pending whether to tell her about Ryou or not. But Miwa got there before her.

"I thought I saw someone send you." Miwa whispered. "In a red sports car. I didn't see much of the person, but I swear he was a hot blond."

Moe's eyes widened. "Whoa, Ichigo. Are you cheating on Aoyoma-kun? Or did you break up?"

Miwa nodded, waiting for her to reply. "C'mon, Ichigo, you've got to tell me who he is!!"

Under the unfaltering gazes of Moe and Miwa, Ichigo finally spoke.

"He's just my boss at the café." (*Note: Moe and Miwa (at least in my story) have not met/seen Ryou or Keiichiro before)

Moe + Miwa: O.o

"Why would your boss send you to school?" Miwa asked.

"I bet there is a much closer relationship between you both…" Moe added on, before Ichigo could reply. +

Ichigo blushed, working hard to get her ears and eyes in control. "Th-there is nothing going on between us."

But yet, she grew redder as she remembered last night, and how she had slept the whole night away in his jacket.

"Oooooh, yes there is…" Moe teased. Miwa accompanied this with an evil cackle.

"—ahem, _ladies_…"

Three stunned faces turned upward. "Perhaps you may like to tell me _what you are GOSSIPING ABOUT?!"_

"Hehe—

"Gomen—

"OUT." It was a command.

The three girls scurried out, followed by the glare of the furious teacher. "And don't come back in until you've learnt your lesson!!"

Once outside, the girls made faces at each other and continued chatting in low whispers.

"Soooo, tell me, are you still with Masaya?" Miwa poked Ichigo.

"Ow!! Yes!! Look, he is the one I like! Shirogane just happened to want to pick up his jacket—

"His jacket was with _you_?!" Moe gasped.

Ichigo stopped. _Darn, _she thought, thinking that she had let too much loose.

"Erm, well—

"Now, now, don't you dare lie…" Miwa threatened. Moe nodded sincerely.

"It was nothing. He so happened to leave his jacket at my home, and this morning he passed by my house while I was running to school… so… yeah." Ichigo half-lied.

Her friends glared at her suspiciously. She gazed back innocently.

"Fine, don't believe me then." She pretended to be cross, and turned her back on them.

"No, no, of course we do—

Ichigo glared slightly. "Look, all he did, was sending me to school."

"Okies." Moe said. She sighed. "Sorry. I was just yearning for some juicy gossip XD."

"Well, I'll tell you about…"

* * *

_Brrrrriiiiiinnnnggg!!!!_

The school bell rang, causing the still gossiping, not 'learning their lesson' girls to jump.

They quickly put on a sad face and sat neatly, staring blankly into the air as the teacher stormed out.

"Momomiya, Honjo, Yanagida, I hope you have learnt your lesson."

The girls nodded, pretending to look sorry. "Off you go then."

They ran back into the classroom, picked up their stuff, and ran to some corner where they could laugh like idiots, at the teacher.

Yet, they did not notice someone was watching them.

With eyes full of sorrow.

* * *

Chatter rang all across the room, as lunch was served. Ichigo lined up to get her food, then went back to her table, with Moe and Miwa.

They continued gossiping about some random girl and boy. It was when Ichigo was gulping down her vegetables that she noticed a note under her desk.

She tilted her hand slightly to unfold the note, and then read it under the table, away from Mow and Miwa.

_Meet me at the rooftop. Will wait for you there. I have to talk to you. Masaya =)_

It was short and simple, clear and precise.

Thoughts ran like a river in Ichigo's mind, rushing and tumbling across. She saw many possibilities right then, many different scenarios. She immediately chose not to tell Moe and Miwa, at least not right now.

Wolfing down the rest of her food, she turned and told her friends, "I need to go to the bathroom. I should be back soon"

They nodded, not breaking off from their conversation.

Ichigo slipped off, heading not towards the bathroom, but the roof area. She wondered what Masaya had to say to her. _Is he going to ask me out for another date? _She wondered.

She hurried towards her destination with a feeling of excitement, anticipation, mixed with strange sense of dread…

* * *

He was there, waiting peacefully, staring up at the cloudy sky. They seemed to hold a forbidding feeling.

"Ichigo." He spoke quietly. He had not looked her way yet.

"Hello, Aoyoma-kun." She said in a falsely cheery voice. Doubt began to eat inside her, mingled with fear and apprehension.

He glanced at her, then patted the railing next to him, inviting her over. She stood next to him, and they stared at the darkening sky together, in silence.

Ichigo looked up as he placed a hand above hers, and clenched it tightly, as if afraid to lose it.

He stared at her with deep emotions playing across his eyes, the doors to his soul. Ichigo felt like she was swirling in those dark orbs.

First came warmth, and love. Almost immediately it was followed by realization, and then an emotion she couldn't understand.

Agony and pain took its place. Ichigo saw pain, as their eyes locked onto each others', his hand tightly clenched. It was almost as if…

"Let's break up." There was strain in those three words, as if it was forced out.

Ichigo could only stare in horror at the boy she loved. _Why... why did this have to happen to me?_ She thought dully, her senses numb.

"…Why?" She could only choke out one word, filled with emotions. She felt a wave of sadness, fear, and pain in her heart. It ached badly, feeling so… empty.

Masaya looked at her for one long moment, as if to absorb her details, her dark pink hair flying in the wind, with the dark stormy skies behind her. Her hands handing limp and uselessly, her whole body immobile. Her dark chocolate eyes stared back at his, reflecting the pain that he felt.

"I'm… sorry." He whispered, barely audible over the rising wind. "We… can't be together." He murmured.

He turned, and started walking away. Ichigo could not see the pain each step took.

_I'm sorry, Ichigo…_

_We were not meant for each other._

_I know this parting will hurt you, but it will soon fade._

_I still love you, no matter whether we're together or not._

_It is too dangerous to be with me…_

_Time, will tell._

_It will reveal all._

_I, will always love you, my Ichigo, my Strawberry…_

Yet, Ichigo could not hear these thoughts. All she saw was her love walking away from her.

A raindrop fell from the sky, as if shedding a tear. It reflected the pain and sorrow that Ichigo emanated.

Rain started falling heavier, and heavier.

Yet Ichigo just stood there, not moving. Tears, mingled with the rain, ran down her cheeks.

She did not care for the rain that lashed against her slender figure, whipping and drenching her body.

She didn't know how long she stood there, just silently crying. She wept all her sorrow out, all her pain. She simply let go, though there was no real movement.

Only the tears that fell from her upturned cheeks.

The storm cried, wailed, screamed, letting out the pent up energy from the clouds that had been hovering around for a while.

Yet Ichigo did not utter a sound. Gradually, she sank weakly to her knees, then sitting on the sodden tiles. Her hands slowly wounded around her knees, and she turned rigid, almost becoming a statue in the raging storm.

Sorrow, pain, and despair filled her, and the area around her. She felt like she was drowning, this eerie emptiness in her chest. She didn't even notice the rain.

She felt this empty feeling like never before.

_Why? Why did the world have to do this to me?_

_To give Aoyoma-kun to me, then brutally snatch him away. _

_Maybe I should have never met him…_

_Why did you have to leave, Aoyoma-kun? What is the reason behind this doing?_

_You had to become so close to me, to like me…_

_I offered you my heart. You were the first to bear it, first that I love…_

_Yet, you leave me._

_And take away part of my heart._

_You left scars there that may never heal. I can only hope for time to do its job._

_To forget… As if I had never met you…_

_It would have been better if we had never been that close, so that you would never have to break my heart…_

_To return to those days when I was just one of your many admirers, staring at you from far away. I was content. _

_Forget…Let time wash away the memories, both happy and sad…Forget…_

She lay there, half unconscious, pounded by the heavy rain.

**

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**

There!

Sorry to Masaya haters for making the separation so long. I need it as part of the plot =P

Haiiz… I actually typed more than this but then decided to cut of a bit earlier… I'll post the next chapter earlier then… XP

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. PLEASE!


	12. Hybrid

It was Moe and Miwa who found her, half unconscious in the rain. She gently resisted their pulls, but was too weak to actually resist, moaning and muttering inaudibly.

They brought her to the nurse, who let her have a bed to lie on. Ichigo's eyes were closed, but her face was scrunched up in pain.

They let her rest.

* * *

XOXOXOXOX **A few hours later, **when School just about ended XOXOXOXOX

Ichigo woke up to see a white ceiling. Her head pounded, and she let out a sneeze.

"Mmm… am I in heaven?" She muttered groggily. "Achoo!!"

Her rather loud sneeze alerted the nurse, a kindly middle aged woman, who went over to her side.

"Are you alright, darling? Feel cold?" She asked in a warm and friendly tone. Ichigo felt herself relax.

"No, I'm fine, thanks."

The kindly nurse smiled once more, and asked, "Do you think you are fit enough to go home, honey?"

Ichigo nodded weakly. She got up, moving slowly and stretching her stiff limbs. She suddenly remembered how she had gotten here, and sat back down.

Could it be? Did it really happen?

Ichigo hoped dearly that she had just been in another daydream. But, here she was, in the nurse's room, with a cold. That was already sufficient evidence…

"M'dear?" The nurse spoke again, shaking her from her thoughts.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine. Just remembered something." Ichigo tried to smile. It felt too much like a painful grimace.

She moved slowly again, flexing her body, testing her control, and the amount of damage. Luckily, it seemed that she wasn't really hurt: she had just stayed in one position for too long.

She pondered on whether to go to the cafe, in her current state. But then there weren't any real damage, so she supposed Ryou would find an excuse to tell her off. After all, he had said that there was only going to be a meeting.

_Forget..._

She would pretend nothing happened, she decided. All of it... From the moment _he_ accepted her request for a date.

She refused to think of him.

_Forget._

She walked extra slowly today, needing to warm up her limbs. They complained if she moved too fast.

Yet, the pink building appeared all too soon. She had wanted some peace, to shun herself away from everyone, not to care--

_Forget._

She shouldn't. Not if she were truly to forget...

Pushing the front door used up most of her strength. She practically collapsed on the front step, cursing her weakness. She pushed herself up, trying not to fall and trip. In the end, she only managed to overbalance and crash towards the ground.

But she didn't get there. A pair of arms caught her before she hit the ground. Sky and earth swirled as she got flipped around. Squeezing her eyes shut in fear, she suddenly got the feeling of deja vu.

When had this happened before? The answer hit her almost immediately.  
With him.

Hoping so hard that she would see his warm dark eyes, she opened her own.

To stare into brilliantly blue ones.

"Baka... are you alright?" Amidst his impetuous tone, there was a hint of concern. "You don't even seem to be able to balance on your feet."

"I-I'm fine!" Ichigo squealed. Why did it have to be _him_?! "Let me _down_!!"

"I won't." Ryou replied. "You can barely walk."

"I _can_..." Her feeble tone betrayed her thoughts. She tried hitting him, to no avail. Her body had not obeyed her since he started holding her.

"L-let me down..." She mumbled.

He chuckled rather evilly. She felt those chuckled deep in his chest, pressed so closely to her body.

"Don't protest. We're almost there. Just stay still. "

Ichigo kept quiet.

* * *

They entered the basement like that, Ichigo cradled in Ryou's arms.

All the others were already there. Lettuce and Mint started at the sight of the two of them, and Zakuro rose an eyebrow.

Pudding grinned. "Are Shirogane-san and Ichigo in love, na no da?" She asked, a notch too loud.

_Crash_.

At this, Ichigo had struggled out of Ryou's grasp, falling to the ground, her face very vividly, red. She didn't have the strength to pick herself up again.

Ryou smirked. "Baka. I told you to stay still!"

He promptly picked her up again. Ichigo's protests were muffled by his shirt.

Turning to the rest, he said to Keiichiro, "Begin."

Keiichiro nodded, and pressed a button. A picture of the basement of the portal appeared.

"This is the portal that we visited, where we met the mew injected with the DNA of the Siberian Tiger. It seems that her powers have a bigger range than yours. Most of her power, for attack, defense, and others, are similar to yours. It was that surge of power that we detected, when she was first created, or, transformed.

"Yet, she has other powers, powers related to the portal. I have analysed a video clip of the time when we met her. The strange language that she spoke is of one that has been long lost. There are records of its existence, but they are few, and most think that they were written by mad people.

"Now to her sword. It is a strange weapon, perhaps mutated in some way. It did not entirely come from her transformation of a mew. The most likely is that the sword, already 'magical' in some ways, was pulled into her transformation.

"It must have a very strong link to her, spiritually/mentally. Its bond to her was strengthened during her transformation, causing it to be her weapon. The weapon itself is probably linked to the portal in some way, perhaps drawing power from it." Keiichiro paused, hesitantly.

"What is the most perticular... her DNA. It seems that it is even more complicated that I would have thought. Not only is it crossed with that of an extinct animal, the Siberian Tiger, which is in itself quite impossible, her DNA... it also contains another DNA, that of a hybrid animal."

Silence filled the dark room. What could this mean? _Two_ animal DNA crossed with hers?

"The hybrid... what I can say is that, right now, the animal species haven't crossed. In other words, that hybrid has yet to be formed, at least here in this world. Either... that animal shall be formed in another universe... or in the future..."

Everyone stood stunned, not really knowing what they were up against. Even Keiichiro himself was surprised at the words that left his mouth.

* * *

"Woah..." Ichigo muttered. This did not seem possible. The future? How could that be?

"What are the animals that the hybrid is crossed from?" Zakuro asked, straight to the point, as always.

Keiichiro paused, then said, "Peregrine Falcon, and... Arctic fox. The most unlikely crossing ever. I do not know how these animals would ever cross breed. Perhaps it was done in a lab."

"But... how can her DNA even support the crossing of another two? How can that even _be_?" Minto asked.

"You've asked the right thing there." Ryou answered. "Her DNA... her original DNA, has too many strands..."

"She herself, is not a pure human..."


	13. Diary

Hello there!!! I can't believe I haven't updated for SOOO long… I woke up in the middle of the night remembering that I hadn't updated in a while… what with homework: assignments, essays, field reports, brochures… and the school production, dogs… so much stuff to do…

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* * *

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**Last Chapter:**

"But... how can her DNA even support the crossing of another two? How can that even _be_?" Minto asked.

"You've asked the right thing there." Ryou answered. "Her DNA... her original DNA, has too many strands..."

"She herself, is not a pure human..."

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 13: Diary  
**

The words echoed through the room, magnified by the eerie silence that followed.

Ichigo was the first to react.

"_What?_" She sputtered. Ryou nearly dropped her in surprise. He had almost forgotten she was there. It felt so comfortable, so _right_ to be holding her.

"Not _human_?" She yelped. "What else would she be then?" She said sarcastically.

Yet a possible answer rang within her words. Ichigo's eyes widened as she considered the possibility. Everyone around seemed to share her thoughts.

"No way…" Ichigo whispered.

"Could it be…?" Lettuce continued.

"Alien…" Pudding muttered in disbelief. Could it be possible? An _Alien_ mew?

"Just that she's not pure human doesn't make her an alien… right?" Ichigo tried to reason with herself. "Shirogane, what do you mean by not _pure_ human? Is she still partially human then?"

Ryou looked down at her. _She looks so fragile, _he thought_, tired and weak._ "Hm? Sorry?" He said, distracted by his own thoughts.

Ichigo repeated the question.

"Oh. Well, yes. She is mostly human, or she wouldn't look like one. It's just that she is a tiny bit different from normal humans. Her DNA strands. And possibly some unknown powers, too."

There was silence in the room.

What powers did this strange mew hold?  
Even her original form is a mystery in itself…  
Along with the complications of her transformation, it seemed just… impossible.

How could you have the DNA of two different animals, one of which is extinct and the other a hybrid that hasn't been formed, meld with your own DNA, which isn't even human?  
The past and the future… where the animals come from.

Who is she? _What_ is she? What answers did she hold?  
There were so many questions to be asked about her… about what has been going on…

Almost too many to count…  
Would this mystery ever be unraveled?

Ichigo shivered and unconsciously snuggled against the hold of her boss.  
_So tired… weary…_, she thought. So much has been happening recently…

How she wished it could stop. Let everything end, cut herself off from these troubles.  
She thought of what the strange mew had said. _Humans are weak, selfish creatures. Why should you protect them? Fools._

_No_, she thought, shaking her head. _It is my responsibility, as a mew. I cannot run away from it, I cannot shun this mission_.

Still, she wanted to rest. Maybe just for a while…?

Dimly she registered that the others had started talking, discussing their discoveries and what to do about them. _Yeah, we've got to plan what to do next… cannot… rest… now…_ Even as she struggled to remain conscious, sleep gradually took over and she fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

"So... this mew probably isn't alien… she's just… not fully human… okay this is strange…" Lettuce listed out their theories.

"Can you research on the Lynesif portal? About the language?" Zakuro addressed Keiichiro.

He nodded, and replied, "I have. So far, I haven't found much. The complex search engine is still running, so there might still be some information coming up."

The group pondered on this, before Pudding spoke up.

"So do you think we should make friends with her, na no da?"

Minto shook her head. "It's not just whether we want to make friends with her. It's about whether _she_ would be willing to make friends with us. We're not even acquainted yet."

The rest of the mews nodded. It made sense.

Then an ominous question came up. "Is she… an enemy?" Lettuce asked timidly.

They fell silent yet again as they thought about the dire consequences if she were.

She would be a potentially powerful enemy. She had unknown and unexpected powers, along with that strange portal she guarded.  
An exceptionally formidable enemy, if they got on her wrong side. And she was a mew, too. No one could be sure of what would happen if their powers were used against each other.

* * *

_Mmm, so warm__…_ Ichigo thought vaguely. _It's so nice, and warm… Really like it… He's holding me so tenderly. So safe…_

It didn't occur to her to think about who 'he' was. She just knew that she was safe and protected in a warm embrace. She purred slightly and snuggled closer, burying her face deeper in her holder's chest.

* * *

"…She said that it was destiny, or fate, that led this portal to be here. What does she mean? She didn't really answer the question…" Keiichiro mused aloud. "There must be a reason for this portal to the other universe to be here. What secrets is she guarding?"

All of a sudden, a tinkling noise sounded from the computer. They all watched as Keiichiro tapped a few buttons, and scanned the screen. His eyes widened, but kept his calm as he issued a few commands, and some writing appeared on the big screen.

It was the blurry photo of an old diary. Under it, was a description. Keiichiro started reading.

"_This is the diary of the deceased madman Frenid Sawray. It contains a lot of illegible writing and strange unknown characters, characters of what he proclaimed to be an ancient long-lost language. Many people have come to the conclusion that he had had many hallucinations and strange dreams where he proclaimed to have seen visions of different worlds. Neighbors said that he would suddenly start yelling and screaming in an unknown and odd language in the middle of the night. Sometimes he would not appear for days, vanishing within the sanctuary of his home. His wife and son had moved away a while after his madness started, but his son often returned to visit his father. When questioned, he would say that he did not believe his father to be insane. He believed everything his father said. Frenid Sawray died in his own home, at the age of 68, forever marked as a lunatic. He had lived long enough to see his beloved son get married, and get blessed with a son, a grandson that he lavished his most undivided attention on. The little boy, named David, was five when his grandfather passed away. The cause of his death was never determined."_

"Wow…" Lettuce whispered. "Poor man… I wonder…"

"Wait, there's more. This is the most shocking part." Keiichiro scrolled further down the page.

"_More about his proclaimed visions, and what he usually ranted on about: Noted in his diary, he mentioned mysterious lights coming from a dark surrounding… strange, powerful words that contained power in themselves…"_

"Like the ones we heard in the portal! And those 'mysterious light coming from a dark surrounding'… it must be the portal!" Minto cried out.

"Yes, yes… exactly. But I'm not finished yet."

"_He said he even learned some of the language, though he __said that he __never could quite hold as much power in the words."_ There was a slight gasp. "_His son is said to have been taught a little of the language, and told all about it. Sometimes Frenid would wake up in the night screaming, saying that the powers were too strong, too uncontrollable, and that it was too late. Too late for him to turn back. His visions sometimes came upon him without warning at all. One moment he could be talking to a neighbor about the day's weather or their garden flowers, and then a strange change would come over him, and he would start babbling some queer statements. Little could be understood from them. Sometimes these incoherent ramblings would be about strange figures dressed in similar 'transformed clothes', who had some 'animal features'…"_

Keiichiro stopped.

"No way…" Minto gasped.

Lettuce stared at the screen disbelievingly.

"Was the man talking about mew mews, na no da…?" Pudding wondered aloud, sounding shocked.

Zakuro had been shocked, too, when Keiichiro had read out that sentence, her eyes widening. But now she regained her calm as she asked, "When was this…? As in, when was this person around? Any dates?"

Keiichiro processed some information on his computer, and replied. "He lived around the 19th century. He was born… let's see… 1812. And he died at 1880."

"That's a long time ago… how would he see us mews?" Lettuce's voice was tinted with confusion.

"I don't know…" Keiichiro did not understand either.

"I guess there may be one way to find out…" Minto said. "Perhaps we could see if any of his descendants are still alive…"

Pudding and Lettuce nodded. Zakuro smiled slightly, and said, "This could be our chance to solve this mystery…"

* * *

While this was going on, Ryou had been holding the sleeping Ichigo.

_You baka,_ he thought_, you're the team leader… you shouldn't be falling asleep in such an important discussion…_

But he didn't mind, really. It felt comfortable to hold her fragile body against him, to protect her within his embrace.

_I wonder why you__'re so tired,_ he thought to the sleeping girl. _You must be absolutely exhausted, to fall asleep in my arms like that. What happened, Strawberry? You seemed fine this morning. _

He had seen her approach the café from a distance, and had seen the tears that had threatened to spill, and that lost look in her eyes. It had hurt him to see that pain in her eyes. And when he had caught her, he had seen that disappointed look in her eyes. Even though she had screamed and yelled at him, he had known that she was just trying to act if everything was normal.

Nothing slipped from the notice of Ryou Shirogane's eyes. He had observed.

_Ichigo__… no matter how strong and confident you appear to be, you are lost, and you are scared…_ he thought sadly. _Sleep peacefully, strawberry… you deserve this rest. _

He had remained silent throughout the shocking discussion, taking care to make Ichigo as comfortable as possible.

* * *

"… okay, this is what I've found: his oldest living descendant is Daniel Sawray, who's in his sixties. This is his address." Keiichiro announced, smiling.

The group all beamed, charged with a new sense of purpose.

"We can do this!!! Right, Ichigo-san?" Pudding exclaimed excitedly, addressing the pink mew.

There was no reply.

"… Ichigo…?" Lettuce started scanning the room.

"Here." A weary voice sounded in the corner. Shirogane Ryou.

"Where?"

Ryou walked out, still holding the slumbering Ichigo. "Over here."

When the crowd saw the sight of Ichigo lost in dreamland, they sighed collectively.

* * *

Ryou shrugged. "She fell asleep. I think she's tired."

"Well, wake her up…" Minto said exasperatedly.

Ryou stared at the cute little heart-shaped face sleeping peacefully in his arms. He didn't really want to. But he had to, or the others would be suspicious and start asking funny questions. _Sorry, Ichigo. It's not the right time… can't afford to get my cover blown._

"Ichigo…? Wake up, baka." He called out gently.

"Mmm…" Ichigo simply mumbled and shifted her position.

"Ichigo, Ichigo! Wake up…" He shook her awake.

Ichigo stirred. "Okay, okay…" She muttered feebly.

She opened her chocolate brown eyes, and stared at him through sleep-dilated pupils.

She smiled at him. That made Ryou's heart warm, but that warmth was swept away as Ichigo spoke groggily.

"Masaya…."

_How can you speak and think of another when you are in my embrace? Don__'t you know that would hurt me?  
_Ryou's heart hardened as he spoke coldly, "I'm not your beloved _Masaya_." His voice was riddled with contempt, although he felt slightly hurt inside.

"Huh…??" Ichigo's eyes finally focused and realized she was staring not at her love Masaya, but at the beautiful blue eyes and ivory features of her boss Shirogane Ryou. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Sh-Shirogane—"

Ryou couldn't help but feel amused at her confused and surprised state. _I can't really stay angry at you, huh, Ichigo?_

"W-What are you grinning at?!?! And, w-why are you holding me?" Ichigo stuttered indignantly.

"Hey, look, baka, you were the one who feel asleep while I was holding you."

Ichigo glared at Ryou, unable to think of a comeback.

"Umm…" Lettuce's timid voice cut through their heated conversation. "Ichigo and Shirogane-san…"

"Ex_cuse_ me. Sorry to interrupt your intimate conversation, but we have business to attend to." Minto continued.

Ichigo blushed while Ryou raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"So let's find this Daniel Sawray. Maybe he'll be able to answer some questions." Zakuro said.

Ichigo leaned closer to Ryou and whispered, embarrassed. "Who is Daniel Sawray?"

Ryou rolled his eyes and sighed. There was lots of explaining to do. "I'll tell you en route."

She nodded.

* * *

"Okay, this is scary. We're going to the descendant of a man who wrote about us almost two centuries ago, half crazed, and died of an unknown cause? Jeez, he might even be cursed." Ichigo shuddered as Ryou finished filling her in on the discussion.

They were following Keiichiro to the address, which was conveniently located in Tokyo. Apparently the family had moved there when David Sawray had grown up, and has been there ever since.

Ryou was still carrying Ichigo, despite her protests. They had bickered at first but Ichigo had then resided into a resigned silence when she realized that her efforts were futile.

"So now will you please let me down? My body is sore from being in the same position for so long. It's uncomfortable." Ichigo pleaded.

Ryou smirked, and Ichigo felt her face flush, her heart pounding faster. "You're comfortable enough to have fallen asleep." That was it. Her ears and tail popped out, to the amusement of her blond haired boss.

"You didn't need to remind me…" She muttered darkly. _I can't believe it. Falling asleep in his jacket is one thing, but in his arms? No way. No way no way no way. _

Boy, she had a lot of taunting to face.

"I think this is it." Keiichiro declared with satisfaction. Everyone stopped and inspected the building they were about to enter. It was one of those old fashioned houses, ancient but elegantly beautiful. An intangible feeling of happiness surrounded this building. Though not quite as posh and extravagant as Minto's, it still had that regal, proud air. Stepping into a generously large space in front of the door, they paused, making sure they were at the right place. An old fashioned postbox confirmed their doubts, as did the faded sign which said 'SAWRAY' on the door.

Hesitantly, Keiichiro raised his hand to knock. _Knock, knock, knock._ The knocks on the beautiful wooden door rang pleasantly in the serene surroundings.

The door opened.

* * *

Oh. My. God. I cannot believe this. I wrote like 4/5 of this chapter and forgot about it for so long. There, that's a long chapter XD

**Please review!** You see that button down there, yes, the one that says "Review this Story/Chapter"? Well, yeah, I would like to courteously invite you to **click it**. It would mean a world of difference to me =)

Many thanks!! Muchísimas gracias! 謝謝！XDD

So, till the next time!


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